I didn’t get a great grade on my senior thesis. Is it a red flag to forego a letter from my thesis adviser?
For any letter of recommendation, the content of the letter is more important than the grade on the transcript. A lot of the best letters come from situations where applicants have faced challenges with resilience and adaptability, collaborated with others to troubleshoot, shown a commitment to growth and learning, and otherwise demonstrated skills that are important in medicine.
The senior thesis is a unique aspect of the Princeton experience that stands out on applications, and a letter of recommendation from it can help admissions committees understand its uniqueness and the ways that carrying out the thesis project have helped you develop intellectually and personally. We suggest having an honest conversation with your thesis adviser (and/or your mentor if you worked closely with someone in the lab) to gauge their willingness to write you a strong, positive letter. Share that you’d hope they would write about the positive outcomes of the thesis, the competencies or qualities you showed through it, and the ways that the thesis experience prepared you to become a physician (be specific in outlining these for them). If they show any hesitation or lack of enthusiasm, then your concerns may be warranted and it may be better to look elsewhere for a letter. We would be very surprised if any faculty member here, if you asked them in an open, professional manner, would say they’d write a strong letter and turn around and write a weak or negative one. Our website offers more advice on how to effectively ask for a letter of recommendation.
If you ultimately don’t have a letter from your thesis experience, we’d recommend having something from your department. We could also share some context about your thesis experience in our committee letter of recommendation to help alleviate potential admissions committee concerns. This is a very case-by-case question, so we’d be happy to discuss your individual situation and provide more advice based on more details!
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