板上的前辈们好
小弟现在有关于申请phd的推荐信事宜求教。困惑不已，烦请前辈指条明路。
背景是国内综排top4 食品专业，大三2+2到美国综排top15读生物。concentration 是
computational biology，但是实验经历，不管国内国外，都是在分子生物学的wet lab
。现在大四上申请季，准备申请bioinformatics 的phd。
推荐信前两封都搞定，感觉比较稳，但是有问题。第一个是现在实验室的老板，人很厚
道也很支持，但是他跟我说他做yeast的，在bioinformatics里面的人应该都不知道他
，最后硬着头皮让他写了。第二个是advisor，不是faculty但是是undergraduate
research director,非常熟悉我的情况，说会write me a strong letter，但是也坦言
说自己没有研究经历，不知道效果如何。
第三封，有两个选择，第一个是国内大学的院长，人很好，为了2+2项目打了很多交道
，也很了解我。跟她说让她写推荐信，她答应亲自给我写。但是写的内容也不会涉及
computational biology，她自己是做组织再生的，只是大一的时候打过酱油。个人
characteristics方面应该会着重写。
于是我就拼命找和computational biology 相关的第三封推荐信。这学期
computational biology这门课的教授。答应给我写推荐信，但是这学期事情实在太忙
（打工，做thesis，TA，还有20学分），那门课表现不甚理想。这门课的大部分都是研
究生，本科生很多也是CS的，没有考试，只有五次大作业和一次project。我的第二三
四次作业都没有到mean（大家不要再拍我了，真心太忙而且课程设计完全不是自己的套
路），但是教授还是说他给我写推荐信的offer still open。一直被他的这封推荐信搞
得压力很大，前面给他发邮件说不麻烦他写了，找原来学校的院长写。他回复的原
email如下：
Maybe the fairest way to proceed would be for me to tell you the type of
letter I feel I would be able to write, given what I have seen, and then
you can decide whether you'd like me to go ahead and write it or whether
you'd rather ask someone else. Here's what I could say: I have met with
you no multiple occasions and you seem like a bright, highly motivated,
focused student, with a clear idea of what you would like to pursue in
graduate school. You have done well as a biology major at XXX, and have
kept up with a challenging course load including not just biology
courses but courses in Math, CS, and statistics (I can talk a bit about
the computational biology concentration). You have done an honors
thesis and been active in undergraduate research. Then I can say a bit
about my class,
giving your performance a positive spin: it's a cross-listed class with
more grad students than undergrads, it's considered a very challenging
course but you have kept up with the material, turned in all homeworks,
done reasonably well (though not at the top of the class). I can also
talk about your project if you find a good one and do well on it. This
is about what the letter would be like -- I can generally emphasize the
challenging nature of what you've taken on, stress your maturity, state
that I think you will likely do well in graduate school, while allowing
that you are not at the very top of our students in terms of academic
accomplishments. On balance I think this would be seen as a reasonably
positive letter, but not a glowing one. You will have to decide whether
you think this will help you or not.
一开始觉得比较relieving，但是仔细读，那个not the top of our students in
terms of academic accomplishments还有on balance this would be a
reasonably
positive letter感觉有点不对劲儿。不知道这个唯一一封computational 相关的推荐
信会不会反而起到反面作用。所以犹豫要找国内院长写一封非常向上但是不是特别学术
的推荐信。
关于申请，前前后后已经折腾了快一个月了，渐渐觉得没啥热情了。有的时候都不想继
续读了。但是还是打算先申着，有理想的学校就读，没有理想的就再另寻出路。到时候
可能还回板上烦劳各前辈。
鸭梨真的灰常大，我尽量做到没有在show off，我的背景不咋地，希望前辈们理解。叩
谢！
