Recommender from Different Department

[tejasG53]

Hello All,
I completed my Bachelors in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from BITS Pilani in May, 2015.
I will be applying for MS in ECE for Fall 2016.

One of my recommenders is a reputed Professor of English Drama and History. I have worked closely with her due to my secondary interest in History and Politics and as a result she has informed me that she will write a very strong recommendation for me.

 

However because she belongs to Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, will her recommendation be useful or have any negative impacts on my application? 

Help appreciated,
Tejas.

Edited July 28, 2015 by tejasG53

[avflinsch]

Any recommendation is useful, one from a department outside of your primary interest shows that you are a more rounded applicant and can be to your benefit.

[iphi]

Hello All,

I completed my Bachelors in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from BITS Pilani in May, 2015.

I will be applying for MS in ECE for Fall 2016.

One of my recommenders is a reputed Professor of English Drama and History. I have worked closely with her due to my secondary interest in History and Politics and as a result she has informed me that she will write a very strong recommendation for me.

 

However because she belongs to Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, will her recommendation be useful or have any negative impacts on my application? 

Help appreciated,

Tejas.

 

One recommendation from outside your area is fine, maybe even beneficial because as the other poster mentioned it shows you are well-rounded. ALL of them outside your department is a red flag but one is fine!

[eeee1923]

If the prof can attest to your research acuity and experience and how that will help you succeed at this next level, then it should be fine. If not, I wouldn't say that it would have negative impacts on your application - more like it won't really add much to it. 

[Eigen]

Not this far out of area, but I specifically approached letter writers outside of my major for exactly this reason.

 

Depending on the school and what area I was leaning towards, I included a math and physics professor along with recommendations from the chemistry department. Even who I got to write recommendations within my department differed, depending on what subfield my application was written around.