Recommendation from President of University

[kuahji]

When applying for graduate schools in physics, would a recommendation from the president of a the university be better than say a physics professor I had for class? One of the schools I'm looking at requires 3 letters of recommendation, & I believe I have two solid recommendations from physics professors/research. So just wondering about the third.

 

[AndersonMD]

I doubt it unless the Principal is familiar with you, your work and contributions. Also, the prestige of the school may matter and how big it is, I can't see a Principal being informed enough to write a good letter for you.

 

[nicksauce]

Grad school admissions people are interested in your capability to do original research. Profs you took classes with, or Profs who supervised you in research can easily assess this, while there is virtually no way the President of the University could.

 

[eri]

I can tell you a letter from the former president of Big-Name School (who left on good terms) did not help me get into Big-Name School despite my very good grades, other letters from research professors, good test scores, and publications.

 

[twofish-quant]

When applying for graduate schools in physics, would a recommendation from the president of a the university be better than say a physics professor I had for class?

It depends on what he says.

If you have two strong recommendations from physics professors then a strong recommendation from a university president would be better than a "he took my class" one from a prof. But a good recommendation from the professor is better than a "he went to my school". Also it will help a lot of it's the president of the school that you are applying to.

I do know of someone that got into graduate school because he got an extremely strong recommendation from the sitting president of the university that he was applying to.