Letter of Reference

ilikedrit
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:13:10 +0000

Given only the following choices, which would you choose:
(i) a glowing letter from a graduate student
(ii) a flat or negative letter from a professor

Example of what I mean by “flat”:

Dear Sir/Madam,

[applicant] attended [course] and received a grade of [grade]. I recommend [applicant] to your program.

Sincerely,
[prof]

Countless authoritative sources say a flat letter definitely damages one chances. Yet I have not found any authoritative sources say that a positive letter from a graduate student is damaging, only that it may not have as much weight.

Let’s measure the aggregate strength of the letters on a point scale. Positive letter from a professor is +1, positive letter from a graduate student is 0, and flat letter from a professor is -1. Let’s suppose the minimum number of letters required is 2 and that I send 2 letters in.

Scenario 1: Positive letter from a professor & positive letter from a graduate student = 1+0 = 1
Scenario 2: Positive letter from a professor and flat letter from a professor = 1-1 = 0.

Since 1 > 0, it appears that scenario 1 is better than scenario 2. Hence, a positive letter from a graduate student is better than a flat letter from a professor.

I present this scenario to you because these are the only choices I believe I currently have. Now which would you choose?