Recommender choice

[WildeThing]

Hey all,

My background is in literature but I'm currently doing a cultural studies degree. Initially I thought about getting recommenders who are familiar with my work in literature but one of them is overseas and I wonder whether it might be better to have more recommenders from US institutions. I'd have 2 options: my linguistics professor and my boss, who has not taught me but could discuss my teaching. Has anyone asked for recommenders from different fields, do you think it is better to stick to literature?

[jrockford27]

Based on what I've learned, I'd pick the profs who are best established who know your work the best.  I had two recommenders from the English department, and a third from a well established History professor for whom I wrote several long papers - but in a subject area (early modern scientific history!) that had nothing to do with my SOP (Cold War era U.S. popular culture!)  While his subject specialty was distant from my application materials, he had read many more pages of my work than one of my English recommenders.

[Glasperlenspieler]

I agree with jrockford's advice. I would only add that it's probably wise to include at least one recommendation from your current degree program. Even if your future work will deal more with literature than cultural studies, I think that not having any recommendations from your current program could send up red flags, if they think that you couldn't find anyone there to write a recommendation for you. Plus cultural studies is so integral to lots of what goes on in literature departments that it will probably still be applicable.

[WildeThing]

Thanks for the advice guys! What are your thoughts on getting a recommendation from someone who can comment on your teaching (in a language, not literature) rather than someone who can discuss your graduate work?

[Glasperlenspieler]

6 hours ago, WildeThing said:

Thanks for the advice guys! What are your thoughts on getting a recommendation from someone who can comment on your teaching (in a language, not literature) rather than someone who can discuss your graduate work?

Unfortunately, my sense is that teaching experience doesn't count for all that much in PhD admissions, especially at elite universities. It's seen as a plus but it's typically not going to be decisive as to whether or not you're admitted. So, you're probably better off going with someone who can speak to your academic qualities and capacity to excel in a graduate program. That being said, an enthusiastic recommendation pertaining to your teaching is probably better than a lukewarm recommendation regarding your abilities as a students, assuming that your other two recommendations focus on academic matters.

[renea]

The advice I was given by my chair (who is also on our graduate programs admissions committee) was that you want each of your recommenders to serve a purpose and that far too often candidates will choose three recommenders who only speak about their academic work/writing. Additionally, she highly recommended asking your letter writers what you would like them to address in their letter. You want each of your choices for a letter writer to be strategic and purposeful. I will echo that you will want at least one person from your program. I don't think there is anything wrong with having a recommender write about your teaching. If you hope to gain an assistantship teaching it could speak on behalf of your ability to balance teaching and schoolwork. 

For my recommendation letters, I'm asking:

1. My chair who has not taught me, but will write about my thesis, a presentation of mine that she was able to attend at a conference, and my professional development so far. She is tenured and the director of our graduate program.

2. Another committee member who has taught me in a theory course last year. I am asking him to write about my ability to comprehend and discuss theory, my ability to write at a graduate level, and my placement (in comparison to PhD students I took the class with). He is tenured and is the director of our undergraduate professional writing program

3. This recommender was a wild card. I had the choice between my last commitee member (who taught me and is tenured/well established in the field) or the associate director of our writing center who is not tenured and very new to the field. Ultimately after talking to my chair we decided that to have someone talk about my work outside the classroom would be more beneficial. There isn't anything my tenured committee member would write about that my second recommender couldn't address, and I felt that having two tenured professors would certainly balance someone newer to the field. So my last recommender is writing about my role in the writing center and the programs I helped with while working there.

 

I would suggest talking to someone in the field you're hoping to enter and asking for advice on what purpose those letters serve. My field (rhet/comp) and even my program might weigh things differently. For some, maybe it's necessary that everyone be in the field and fully established. For other programs they might want to know more about your teaching experience. Talking things over with different professors in my department really helped me narrow my choices and decide what I needed for my apps. Best of luck!