Question about Letters of Recommendation (LOR)

Question: I have to choose one of the following professors for a letter of recommendation - who would be better? a) Organic Chemistry professor that I know well, but got a B in his class 2) Physics professor that I never spoke with, but got an A in class?


Answer: I want to remind everyone how important your letters of recommendation are. Grades are PCATs are very important, but it is very difficult to separate the students with 3.0-3.5 GPA's who have a composite of 70-85 on their PCAT. There are a lot of applicants who fit into those ranges and we don't have room to admit everyone. The LORs can make you or break you.

The people that you choose to write a letter of recommendation for you had better know you well enough to write a good letter. We see a lot of letters from professors who probably couldn't pick the applicant out of the class lineup. The letter begins like this, "Bob was a student in my class. He scored a B and ranked 35th out of 100 students in the class....". Obviously, there are cases where this might be the best letter you can get from a certain professor and you have to use it. It's probably not the best case scenario, but we do understand that it can be hard to stand out or develop relationships with professors in some settings.

To answer your question, I would suggest that you choose the professor who knows you well and can speak to your aptitude as well as your character and personal quailities. An LOR which strongly endorses your application can go a long way toward achieving an interview and possible admission. I suspect a letter from either professor would probably be more than acceptable, but one can tell the committee what kind of person you are and that should help you out.