Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
University of Southern California (USC)
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
Kansas State University
Letters of Recommendation
I'm slowly, every-so-slowly, getting all of my bases covered for 2-year M.Arch application, and I'm curious what those in the know would do in my situation regarding LOR's.
There seems to be a divide between the schools, as some require 2 and others 3 LORs with the application. At this point, I have:
- 1 letter from a registered architect who I worked under for a co-op term; however, this was a project management position and had no design aspect to it
- 1 letter from a studio prof who taught a 2-week design/build course. At the end of the project he approached me and offered to write me a letter, which I was very flattered by. He has a master degree and writes for a number of high-profile arch/art/design magazines.
I'm stuck on the third. Ideally I would get a faculty from our staff with a PhD to write one, or a practicing (designing) architect who I worked for to write it; however I don't believe that I connected enough with our doctorate staff to ask for one, and I have not worked in a traditional architecture office yet. My options are therefore:
- an older urban design prof (PhD) who I was on very good terms with,
- an older studio fine art prof (PhD candidate) who I am on very good terms with,
- one of our senior building design studio assistants who has her own practice nearby,
My assumption is that I should lean towards the urban design proefessor, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. The most recent class I toko was the senior design studio.
A good letter has two important components: a writer, and a message (about you).
It never hurts to have a famous person recommend you, but most of us won't have that.
The message is equally (if not more) important. Readers on admissions committees want to learn more about you; that's why they read letters from other people about you. How long the recommender has known you, in what capacity, and the different educational settings and situations that s/he has seen you in... these all contribute to how useful the letter is. The more substantial the relationship, the more helpful the recommendation, in general. (There are exceptions, of course; your design/build letter offer is one. Grab it. But this advice is for the typical case.)
So among your possible writers, choose someone with decent credentials and whom you've known the longest, or with whom you've had the most interaction.
Good luck!
Hey citizen, thanks for the reply, as its very reassuring. I think you're absolutely right about asking someone who genuinely knows me and can provide true insight for an admissions committee as to how i work. It seems like I can't really go wrong in choosing my final letter (a very nice position to be in at this time), and it seems like it is coming down to the PhD-laiden urban design prof, vs. the Masters-laiden architecture prof/practitioner. I have not been in touch with the urban designer in 2 years at this point, while the studio prof taught my summer semester and actually wrote me a shorter recommendation for a scholarship in July. I'm starting to lean towards the latter for my recomendation, based on the presence of mind from the more recent interactions.
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