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4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:34 pm
by sydfloyd
I already have 3 letters of recommendation from 3 professors that I have done research with, but none from a professor that I have taken a course with. The only person who knows how I do in coursework is a graduate student who had been my TA for an entire year in two different physics courses. Should I submit a 4th letter of recommendation from the graduate student? I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but he has won some awards for being an outstanding TA in the physics department at a top school.

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 4:41 pm
by midwestphysics
No, research letters are better than course letters.

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:29 pm
by pqortic
sydfloyd wrote:I already have 3 letters of recommendation from 3 professors that I have done research with, but none from a professor that I have taken a course with. The only person who knows how I do in coursework is a graduate student who had been my TA for an entire year in two different physics courses. Should I submit a 4th letter of recommendation from the graduate student? I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but he has won some awards for being an outstanding TA in the physics department at a top school.
how can you not know a professor to write a letter for his course? I think letter from TA might actually hurt your application because it would imply that you didn't have a good connection with the professor.

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:38 pm
by TheBeast
You really don't want to get a letter from a graduate student. Get a letter from a prof who you took a course with. The letter doesn't have to say much (especially if it's a fourth letter), just something to the effect that this student took a physics class and got an "A".

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:24 pm
by bfollinprm
you can always ask the prof to write the letter, and intimate that the TA knows you well. The prof will probably ask the grad student to write it, and then sign.