Asking prof for award nomination

[JMilo]

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I go to a small uni, and have gotten close with a few of my professors. Would it be weird to ask one of them to nominate me for a couple awards? It just seems awkward to ask, and she would be writing a LOR for me in the future, and I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression of being egotistic or self involved.

 

[getdown]

Sorry man, but if you have to ask to be nominated for an award, you probably shouldn't be getting that award in the first place. Let your work do the talking instead of your mouth.

 

[JMilo]

Sorry man, but if you have to ask to be nominated for an award, you probably shouldn't be getting that award in the first place. Let your work do the talking instead of your mouth.

The people who receive the awards deserve the award, not the people who get nominated for them. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would have won an award, if only they were nominated.

 

[Robin-jay]

Tough call. Maybe do it in a super indirect way. If you say something like, "how do I earn an award", and the PI says something like "you have to be nominated", then you just indirectly told your PI that you are looking to earn an award, and if they do/don't nominate you after that, then you probably have your answer.

 

[getdown]

The people who receive the awards deserve the award, not the people who get nominated for them. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would have won an award, if only they were nominated.

Then maybe ask a third party to bring it up to the professor so it won't look like you're desperate and leave a bad taste in their mouth.

 

[Catalystik]

I go to a small uni, and have gotten close with a few of my professors. Would it be weird to ask one of them to nominate me for a couple awards? It just seems awkward to ask, and she would be writing a LOR for me in the future, and I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression of being egotistic or self involved.

Don't ask. It's clear you already understand how the request would be perceived.

 

[JMilo]

Tough call. Maybe do it in a super indirect way. If you say something like, "how do I earn an award", and the PI says something like "you have to be nominated", then you just indirectly told your PI that you are looking to earn an award, and if they do/don't nominate you after that, then you probably have your answer.

To be honest, asking "how do I earn an award" seems more shallow than asking to be nominated for the award up front. Idk, any form of bringing it up kind of conveys the same message to me. Aside from incepting the PI, I don't see an indirect way to ask for something like this.

 

[deleted480308]

You don’t ask

 

[chaim123]

Question - are these awards affiliated with your university, or more local or national awards that requests nominations?

If it is affiliated with your university / is a well known award among your PI, you don't ask.

However, if its an opportunity in the community that your PI has never heard of, then I don't see the harm in letting them know it exists.

 

[Robin-jay]

To be honest, asking "how do I earn an award" seems more shallow than asking to be nominated for the award up front. Idk, any form of bringing it up kind of conveys the same message to me. Aside from incepting the PI, I don't see an indirect way to ask for something like this.

Depends on your PI's personality. Some PI's wouldn't mind the straightforwardness, some would find it too forward. If it were me, I'd probably not say anything. Personally, the people I saw win the most awards were more buddy-buddy with their PI's than "qualified". It's really up to you. To be honest, I can't imagine awards are really that important in the grand scheme of things anyway.

 

[chaim123]

For medical school admissions, I believe only Phi Beta Kappa and Rhodes/Fulbright are big deals. Anything else they have no way to compare.

 

[JMilo]

Question - are these awards affiliated with your university, or more local or national awards that requests nominations?

If it is affiliated with your university / is a well known award among your PI, you don't ask.

However, if its an opportunity in the community that your PI has never heard of, then I don't see the harm in letting them know it exists.

It is affiliated with my university, but it is the prof's second year here, so she probably doesn't know too much about it.

Depends on your PI's personality. Some PI's wouldn't mind the straightforwardness, some would find it too forward. If it were me, I'd probably not say anything. Personally, the people I saw win the most awards were more buddy-buddy with their PI's than "qualified". It's really up to you. To be honest, I can't imagine awards are really that important in the grand scheme of things anyway.

I agree. She's prompted me to apply for student faculty grants in the past, which we've got. I wouldn't be asking if it weren't the most prestigious award at the uni with a significant scholarship.

 

[chaim123]

I agree. She's prompted me to apply for student faculty grants in the past, which we've got. I wouldn't be asking if it weren't the most prestigious award at the uni with a significant scholarship.

If its the most prestigious award at your university, I have to assume that she knows something about it. However, if you truly believe she's never heard of it before, and you have a good enough relationship, you could say something along the lines of "Hi, I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that applications for this scholarship are open, and I think I would be a good candidate. What do you think?".

I know that my PI and I are close enough that I could mention something like this to him and he wouldn't think I'm being arrogant, but rather that I'm keeping him up to date with what I need from him. You need to be sure, however, that you have that level of relationship first.

 

[freedoctor17]

For medical school admissions, I believe only Phi Beta Kappa and Rhodes/Fulbright are big deals. Anything else they have no way to compare.

Is Phi Beta Kappa Prize the same as Phi Beta Kappa? I'm pretty sure at my school they give it to like the top 10% or something like that but it has the word prize at the end. It literally just said in the description "to the sophomores with the best academic records in a liberal arts curriculum" so I have a feeling they're not the same thing.

 

[chaim123]

Is Phi Beta Kappa Prize the same as Phi Beta Kappa? I'm pretty sure at my school they give it to like the top 10% or something like that but it has the word prize at the end. It literally just said in the description "to the sophomores with the best academic records in a liberal arts curriculum" so I have a feeling they're not the same thing.

No PBK is top 10% of seniors and 1% of juniors. I don't believe sophomores are eligible to be inducted in PBK. So it sounds like your school has a prize for sophomores founded on the same principles.

 

[freedoctor17]

No PBK is top 10% of seniors and 1% of juniors. I don't believe sophomores are eligible to be inducted in PBK. So it sounds like your school has a prize for sophomores founded on the same principles.

Ok I just looked it up and you're right, there's Phi Beta Kappa listed as well for only juniors and seniors.

 

[HomeSkool]

I go to a small uni, and have gotten close with a few of my professors. Would it be weird to ask one of them to nominate me for a couple awards? It just seems awkward to ask, and she would be writing a LOR for me in the future, and I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression of being egotistic or self involved.

 

[tiramisucheese]

Wow, I'm honestly a bit surprised by some of these responses. I work for a large undergraduate institution and I'm on the listservs that send out info about these types of awards. A LOT of emails come through, and it's not unreasonable to assume that your prof deleted without reading or just hasn't put thought to nominating anyway, especially if it's only her 2nd year.

It depends on your relationship of course, but if you have normal conversations that don't strictly revolve around the subject, that I don't think there is anything wrong with asking for a nomination. I've done this in undergrad in the past, and my mentor was happy to do it.

That being said, if you have a more formal/tense relationship with this prof, then it might be best not to proceed.

 

[DameJulie]

I asked a few professors whom I was close with (and already written some LOR for me) to nominate me for the award. They didn't have any problem doing so. They wrote LOR-style letter to support me.

I think it depends on how close you are to your professor and how prestigious these awards are. My professors never heard about these awards. My logic is the same way as med school LOR. You don't expect your professor to offer you one; instead you ask for it.