4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

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sydfloyd
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Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 7:45 pm

4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Post by sydfloyd » Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:34 pm

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.

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midwestphysics
Posts: 444
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:37 am

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Post by midwestphysics » Thu Nov 17, 2011 4:41 pm

No, research letters are better than course letters.

pqortic
Posts: 398
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 9:24 am

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Post by pqortic » Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:29 pm

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.

TheBeast
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Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:06 am

Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Post by TheBeast » Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:38 pm

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".

bfollinprm
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Re: 4th Letter of Recommendation from a Graduate Student

Post by bfollinprm » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:24 pm

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.



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