<p>I’m sure this question has been posed before, but I don’t have time this afternoon to search the forums. I’m securing letters of recommendation from my senior thesis advisor, as well as a professor I conducted research under–both know me well, and I feel that their recommendations will be strong. My third letter is going to come from one of two people: one is a little-known, non-tenured lecturer who says I’m the best student he’s ever had in 20 years of teaching, and the second is a highly respected tenured professor who feels “positively” about me, but doesn’t know me nearly as well.</p>
<p>Which is preferable: a prestigious-but-lukewarm letter, or extravagant praise from a relative unknown in the field?</p>
<p>It’s far better to get a warm, enthusiastic letter from someone who knows you very well (especially if he’s going to write that you are his best student in 20 years) than it is to get a lukewarm letter from someone prestigious.</p>
<p>Think about it this way: even if the letter is from the most famous person in your field…it’s still just lukewarm. So the adcom is going to look at the name in order to tell how much they should trust this person’s word - and then their main focus will be the content of the letter. So what they’re going to see is a lukewarm, rather lackluster recommendation from someone they respect highly, and thus they will conclude that you are lukewarm and rather lackluster.</p>
<p>as a member of grad and med school admission committees, I can tell you that lukewarm LORs are detrimental to your application-if these are the only ones you have. You need to have at least one LOR writer who knows you very well and can make an articulate argument for your entry and success in your chosen field of study</p>