Quote:
Originally Posted by pookie bear
I would say the majority of our LORs will come from graduates of these top programs. However, I doubt they hold much weight if the prof isn't also a well regarded researcher. A well respected researcher is likely to be well connected within the academic community irregardless of where they got their PhD. As such, a LOR from a well respected researcher is likely to be well received by ad coms. However, I think a LOR from some unknown graduate of a top program holds far less weight. I think people confuse a competent researcher with the brand name associated with a profs degree. |
To clarify the post you're responding to: yes, I agree there are poor graduates from higher-ranked programs, and there are researchers well-respected by everyone. But there are also many researchers, perhaps younger, respected within their field, grad school, and current position, and it'll vary a lot across schools how well their
LORs are received. In IO terms, I'm saying there's some vertical differentiation and some horizontal differentation in ad coms' preferences for the recommendations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YoungEconomist
I was referring to more actual randomness. I believe there are many times when admissions committees will probably have a significant portion of the pool that are more or less "equal" when all things are considered. In the end, if you have 20 "equal" people still being considered for admissions but only have 5 spots left, what do you do?
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Well you have to make a decision, and the decision is ultimately not random. Again, in IO terms, we're talking about horizontal and vertical differentiation. There is some universal agreement in applicant quality (vertical), and then some disagreement (horizontal). For instance, some schools might put more weight on GRE scores and grades than others. Of course we have no way of observing what goes into the heterogeneity in preferences across school, so we can model it as being random, but it's never random. In reality, decisions get made, no two applications are exactly the same, and there's no doubt in my mind that the trust prof's have in
LOR writers, which is largely based on social networks between the profs, can be a decisive factor in admissions decisions between very similar candidates -- and I maintain my hypothesis that access to those networks is more important than undergrad brand name.