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Posted

I am a current MA student in School Psychology and will be applying for PhD in the same stream this fall.

I need two academic references for most of my applications. I am guaranteed with a good reference letter from my MA supervisor, who can comment on my academic (two grad courses that I did well in) and research abilities (working on my thesis with her right now). My question is who to ask for my second LOR, out of the following two options:

1) My undergraduate supervisor, who is in the field of Clinical Developmental Psychology. I worked in her lab for more than two years and she was also my thesis supervisor. I am still working closely with her right now on publishing results of a project to which I contributed. I have gotten really strong LOR from her previously for my MA and scholarship applications.

2) Another professor from my graduate program. She taught two of my courses, where I did okay in the fall-term one (mid 80s) and better in my winter-term one (low 90s). I did really well on both of my final papers, but not so well on presentations (she has pretty high standards and presentations are definitely not my forte). Overall, I have a sense that she doesn't think of me as one of her top students.

My first instinct was to ask my option 1 for the LOR, but she replied with the advice that reviewers of applications would expect more recent assessments of my graduate work. This has led me to question my choice - any thoughts/advice on who I should choose as my second reference?

Posted (edited)

Without further info, 1).   You'll get a good reference for your current work in addition.

Edited by Concordia
Posted
23 hours ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

Have you discussed your options and concerns with your MA supervisor? 

Oh, I don't know why I didn't consider that. Thanks for the advice!

 

22 hours ago, Concordia said:

Without further info, 1).   You'll get a good reference for your current work in addition.

I guess it would be a good idea to remind her to write about our recent contact and work. Thank you so much!

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