EconomBarry Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Hi all, I am an applied math and econ major in an Ivy-League school and I am thinking of applying to phd programs in econ this fall. So far I have had three professors agreeing to write me recommendation letters (one I RAed for, one supervised my independent study and one I took seminar and wrote a term paper) and I had good relationships with all of them. The issue is, all of my three recommenders are young assistant professors. Should I try to have a more senior professor as my recommender? (If I do so, the letter from the senior professor may not be very strong, I only took his class and wrote a final paper). And in general, how is a strong letter from a young AP compared to a semi-strong letter from a tenured professor? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Take the one from the AP. Given where you are, they will understand the game perfectly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealslimkt Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Take the one from the AP. Given where you are, they will understand the game perfectly well. I'm interested in this question because of my similar position. Even if a strong letter from the AP is net beneficial, is the signalling capacity of an AP lower? Jlist on this forum has said "I want to see LORs from professors I know assuring me that this candidate has the capacity to succeed" conveying the general impression that professor reputation matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Sure, there is some tradeoff. But if someone is an assistant professor at an Ivy league school the chances are that she is pretty well known at other top schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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