Third LoR

[blj192]

So I have my first two LoRs from two people who have overseen my research and that I know very well. I am trying to come up with my third and one option is a professor I took one class with (got the top grade) and who is a huge name in the field I want to do my graduate work in. Would it be weird to ask this person? He would definitely remember me, but we haven't had any interaction outside of that class. I was thinking the third LoR could just be about my work in the classroom. 

Thanks for the help.

[fuzzylogician]

What are your other options? 

[blj192]

Either the assistant chair of the department or my academic advisor, both of whom have research interests in other fields. Or the head of the tutoring program I'm a part of. (this is for engineering btw). Not a ton of good options for my third LoR

[fuzzylogician]

No no, the question is what the letter will say, not (at least not only) who writes it. Can any of those people, or anyone else for that matter, write about your research, or has anyone known you for a long time and can talk about how you've always excelled or how you've improved or developed new interests or anything of that sort? Did you TA for anyone who can talk about that? Did you submit class papers that someone can talk about and praise? It doesn't matter as much what the recommender's interests are, as long as they are in your field. In other words: the letter you describe above is a "did well in class" letter, which is of very limited utility. Having a fancy name on it does little to make it less unimpressive. It's probably still perfectly fine assuming that your other two letters are strong, but can one of these other people write a more detailed or insightful letter?