Rec. Letters: How strong is strong enough for top 10?

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lallooprasad
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:58 pm

Rec. Letters: How strong is strong enough for top 10?

Post by lallooprasad » Sun Nov 23, 2008 7:53 am

I'm an international student expecting a Physics score of 900+. My academic credentials are not outstanding overall, but my last 1.5-2 years have been exceptional. I have taken all of the most advanced courses available in high energy theory and I have topped each one of them.

Out of the 3 recommenders, 2 have clearly indicated that they are going to write me the strongest letter they can write (I hope they mean something like: the applicant belongs to top 1%, etc.). The third recommender says that he'll write me a 'strong' letter but not the strongest.

My question is how strong should the recommendation letters be for an applicant to have a considerable chance of getting in a top 10 program? I mean I don't have the strongest credentials - I have no publications plus I've got only 4-5 months of research experience so far. What kind of recommendation letters really convince the admissions committee that an applicant, despite being devoid of any real research work so far, will prove to be an outstanding student in their department?

stardust
Posts: 109
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:15 pm

Re: Rec. Letters: How strong is strong enough for top 10?

Post by stardust » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:54 pm

Unfortunately, aside from strength, its whether they have heard of your recommenders.
If two students are equal and they heard of one student's recommender and not
the other, they take the one they have heard of. That has to be coupled with how
strong the letter is. If its a senior prof and he is more famous 'strong' might be good
too.



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