Physics GRE Discussion Forums

So I was reading through the application materials for some of the schools I am interested in applying to and I noticed that some of them say that they want at least three letters of recommendations. So does that mean that you can submit more than 3 letters of recommendations?

This post got buried with no one having responded. I am still looking for the answer of this question.
There are two schools that I am applying to that allow you to add up to four people to submit letters of recommendations for you. I decided that an extra recommendation would be only a plus on my application, so I went ahead and asked one more faculty member to submit a recommendation for me. However, I am still not sure if I should have 4 letters of recommendations. Do you think that would be interpreted positively, or instead that could potentially backfire?

I don't see how it would backfire, unless you are not sure the extra letter's going to be good.
I don't even know who else to ask for reccommendation letters. There are only 4 (active) physics professors in the department, and i've never had a class with one of them.

I would think whether it helps would depend on what type of letter it is, but I think you're right in that it definitely wouldn't hurt. If it's going to be a "this student did well in my class" type of recommendation I wouldn't bother, but if you think a 4th professor would add information that's not otherwise already expressed in your application, I'd go for it.

Here you have one student that has added the fourth recommender every time it has been possible. In my case I thought it was going to be useful because my three recommenders are:
1. My supervisor of the project that I did in England during an exchange program.
2. My supervisor of a summer research program in Germany.
3. My current research supervisor in Valencia. She was also my teacher 4 years ago.
And I added the fourth:
4. Current teacher of QFT. Quite famous in some of the universities that I'm applying to.

In my case I think that the fourth recommender adds something different. But be careful, always try to add the recommenders in order of preferences, they might not read the fourth letter if they do not have time. Hope it helps

valkyrie wrote:If it's going to be a "this student did well in my class" type of recommendation I wouldn't bother.

Really? So if you really kick butt in a class (like always getting the highest grade etc), is it not really all that advisable to ask that prof for a recommendation?

matonski wrote:

valkyrie wrote:If it's going to be a "this student did well in my class" type of recommendation I wouldn't bother.

Really? So if you really kick butt in a class (like always getting the highest grade etc), is it not really all that advisable to ask that prof for a recommendation?

The admission committee doesn't care all that much that you always got the highest grade (at least, not to a higher extent than what's already reflected in your transcript). If your prof knows you more, or you did some cool project or presentation in that class, or went above and beyond what was expected, then go ahead and ask them, but if the letter is basically "Matonski was a very good student. He got an A+ in my class, and always says hello when he crosses me in the department. He is also very punctual." then there isn't much of a point

Do you think that would be interpreted positively, or instead that could potentially backfire?

I assume any letter would be a good letter, otherwise you shouldn't be asking for it.

As for can it help? Yes!

I submitted an extra letter of recommendation. I don't believe it helped me in the application process. However, I do credit it with helping me get a departmental fellowship. The extra letter was about my tutoring experience, something that doesn't need to be mentioned for apps but can be very useful for fellowships.