His being a BA graduate from there wouldn't help. The MA might, if he studied in the same department in which you are hoping to go. The Ph.D is even better.
The thing that will help you the most is a well-written, positive LOR from someone who knows you very well. If the professor can write that, then it will help you. It will make your chances greater if someone with connections to your future department, who knows the people there, writes you a glowing letter of recommendation because he knows the level of work it takes to get through that department and his recommendation means he thinks you are a good fit. Beyond that, people tend to trust recommendations from people they know or once knew.
Helps some. I was also in a similar position with my advisor- I had always wanted to take of her classes anyway so it just happened that she offered it in the fall of my senior year, when I would be applying to graduate schools for history PhD. My advisor was certainly excited that I was applying to her alma mater (MA/PhD) and kept it high priority over her other LORs for other schools. I'm not kidding about this scenario... this woman flipped out when her LOR wouldn't go through the system and made the call herself... and I was standing there and staring at her and saying, "Okay... relax
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The thing that will help you the most is a well-written, positive LOR from someone who knows you very well. If the professor can write that, then it will help you. It will make your chances greater if someone with connections to your future department, who knows the people there, writes you a glowing letter of recommendation because he knows the level of work it takes to get through that department and his recommendation means he thinks you are a good fit. Beyond that, people tend to trust recommendations from people they know or once knew.
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