letters of recommendation

[dasaev]

I'm considering getting into the grad school and my concern is whether
letters of recommendation must be included as part of the applicaiton.
I've worked for 3 years in the US industry after I got my undergrad.
What makes it so difficult is the fact that I'm in the US already, whereas the
undergrand school is back in Ukraine. Getting letters of recommendation
from there might be very difficult, given that I don't have time to travel
there.

Will it be a key deciding factor, if I don't provide letters of recommendation
at all? Will the letters of recommendation from my current/previous employers do?
Will it make any difference if I take classes as an independent student, say at
Harvard ext school, and get references there?

I looked at the MIT grad admission FAQ and they recommend to get at least
one letter from a faculty member, which in my case is equivalent to getting
2 or 3 of them.

Admission requirements differ from school to school, that's why I would be
interested in hearing various opinions on the subject. Any help is greatly
appreciated.

[RrM]

I'm considering getting into the grad school and my concern is whether
letters of recommendation must be included as part of the applicaiton.

Depends.

I've worked for 3 years in the US industry after I got my undergrad.

Actually, some schools tell that in case you've already worked, they'd prefer to see a letter or two written by your employer... Ask the university.

What makes it so difficult is the fact that I'm in the US already, whereas the
undergrand school is back in Ukraine. Getting letters of recommendation
from there might be very difficult, given that I don't have time to travel
there.

Yeah, that might be a problem. Try to write them? Ask a friend or a relative to go there and catch a professor?

Will it be a key deciding factor, if I don't provide letters of recommendation
at all?

It may be. My school just did not consider my application until my file was "complete", that is - contained among other things all three letters they required. But funny thing - when I was running out of time (a professor I asked to write the letter didn't write it promptly), they (the school Admissions Office) told me to go and just get a letter from anybody - that is, from any person who knows me. My friend (who was this school alumna) wrote it the same day I asked her... but meanwhile the professor's letter arrived, too.

Will the letters of recommendation from my current/previous employers do?

Yes, they might. Depending on the university regulations and maybe on the field of study, too.

Will it make any difference if I take classes as an independent student, say at
Harvard ext school, and get references there?

Yes, definitely. In my case, even the reference from a Community College worked. And - good grades in those classes (especially Harvard) might be useful, as well.

I looked at the MIT grad admission FAQ and they recommend to get at least
one letter from a faculty member, which in my case is equivalent to getting
2 or 3 of them.

Why 2 or 3? A reference from Ukraine weights exactly the same as an American one. I mean, an American one might be better, but they don't want a bunch of Ukrainian ones, that's for sure. I remember seeing in some Admissions Web pages something like "don't send more letters than we require"...

And by the way, speaking of my school again. I ended up with four reference letters instead of three (see above) - well, a year later I needed (for reason I don't remember now) a list of people who sent the letters. Guess what - there were just three people in that list... they have three spaces in their form - so they've chosen three persons with the highest credentials and entered them. The fourth one didn't have any weight at all.

Admission requirements differ from school to school, that's why I would be
interested in hearing various opinions on the subject. Any help is greatly
appreciated.

Not only they differ from school to school, they differ from department to department, and they change them every year, too... So read what we'll be writing here, but after that - CONTACT the school! Ask them.

[Nata Ivanova]

In your case you MUST have at least 2 letters

1 - from any of your professor in your school, where he/she describes how good you were as a student and how he would grade you in your class (compared to others) - necessary! He should point out your skills, abilities to study and to pick up new knowledge, to do research, e.t.c.

2 - from the person you worked with (your boss) during these 3 years after the school. He should describe your duties and how did you do, e.t.c. Also few personal things.

One more recommendation letter is very often recommended.

Recommendation letters are deadly important, more than your diploma from the undegrad degree and at some point are more important than your GRE/TOEFLL/whatever.

I do afraid that unless you explain in the special letter why you can not provide letter from your school, it can be taken negative.