Letters of Recommendation Part of The Alchemist's Lair Web Site Maintained by Harry E. Pence, Professor of Chemistry, SUNY Oneonta, for the use of his students. Any opinions are totally coincidental and have no official endorsement, including the people who sign my pay checks.
Letters of recommendation are extremely important.
Often they can determine whether or not you get the position that you desire. It is clearly worth a little extra effort to obtain the best possible recommendations. Obviously you should ask for letters of recommendation from faculty who know you and have a favorable impression of your work. Ideally, you would select an individual who has talked to you on a number of occasions and gave you A grades in all the courses you have taken with him or her. Realistically, you should look for the best combination of these characteristics.