I'm currently a senior at a top college. I transferred here after my sophomore year from a relatively unknown school. I worked at a boutique investment bank last summer and will be starting at a bulge bracket this July.
I'm interested in applying to Harvard 2+2 before April 8 and I wanted to get some feedback on which recommenders I should choose. The first recommender is a professor at my current college and she will end up writing a really excellent recommendation. I'm not quite sure who to choose for my second recommender. Here are my options:
1) Intermediate Micro professor at top college (current college) who didn't get tenure so she has since moved to another college. Did well in the class and she liked me but I haven't seen her in a while and she currently works at another school so I'm not sure whether she would be interested. I had her write me a recommendation for something else before but I remember her mentioning that it might be weird for her to write recommendations once she moved to her current college.
2) Adjunct Professor (intro macro) at old college (not very well known school). Wrote me a ridiculously good letter of recommendation which helped me transfer. Very nice guy and would likely let me add whatever I want to the letter of recommendation. Only concerns are that he is only an adjunct professor and he is from my old, non-prestigious college so I'm not sure if his recommendation would hold as much weight?
3) Adjunct professor at old college (environmental econ). He liked me a lot but he writes kind of oddly and I haven't kept in touch. Still, I think he would write a good letter, although not as good as professor 2. He's a bit eccentric so I'm afraid he might write something weird.
4) Bosses from my summer job (boutique IB). It wasn't a role where I could have worked there full time after graduating so there are no hard feelings that I'm working at another firm in July. That said, while they might agree to do it, they would likely not put in that much effort into it and probably won't give a knock-out recommendation, although they will be positive. I could get a rec from a Harvard Law grad who was one of my bosses there. Maybe that would add something? If they agreed, it would probably be just to be nice. Pros: I vary my the sources of recommendations by offering a work recommendation along with my professor recommendation. Cons: Probably won't be an over-the-top great recommendation. They'll likely wait until the last minute to send it out.
Any thoughts on which one I should choose for my second recommendation?
I'm interested in applying to Harvard 2+2 before April 8 and I wanted to get some feedback on which recommenders I should choose. The first recommender is a professor at my current college and she will end up writing a really excellent recommendation. I'm not quite sure who to choose for my second recommender. Here are my options:
1) Intermediate Micro professor at top college (current college) who didn't get tenure so she has since moved to another college. Did well in the class and she liked me but I haven't seen her in a while and she currently works at another school so I'm not sure whether she would be interested. I had her write me a recommendation for something else before but I remember her mentioning that it might be weird for her to write recommendations once she moved to her current college.
2) Adjunct Professor (intro macro) at old college (not very well known school). Wrote me a ridiculously good letter of recommendation which helped me transfer. Very nice guy and would likely let me add whatever I want to the letter of recommendation. Only concerns are that he is only an adjunct professor and he is from my old, non-prestigious college so I'm not sure if his recommendation would hold as much weight?
3) Adjunct professor at old college (environmental econ). He liked me a lot but he writes kind of oddly and I haven't kept in touch. Still, I think he would write a good letter, although not as good as professor 2. He's a bit eccentric so I'm afraid he might write something weird.
4) Bosses from my summer job (boutique IB). It wasn't a role where I could have worked there full time after graduating so there are no hard feelings that I'm working at another firm in July. That said, while they might agree to do it, they would likely not put in that much effort into it and probably won't give a knock-out recommendation, although they will be positive. I could get a rec from a Harvard Law grad who was one of my bosses there. Maybe that would add something? If they agreed, it would probably be just to be nice. Pros: I vary my the sources of recommendations by offering a work recommendation along with my professor recommendation. Cons: Probably won't be an over-the-top great recommendation. They'll likely wait until the last minute to send it out.
Any thoughts on which one I should choose for my second recommendation?
