Asking professors to write letter of reference without doing a research?

[Smooth Operater]

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Did anyone actually ask professors to write a LOR without doing a research or volunteering in lab with him/her? I am planning to just ask professors who I have taken lectures with. The professors only had a chance knowing me when I visit their office. We talked mostly about course materials, so they don't know the other side of me. Thus I don't think they will reveal my other characters that much. So my question is that, do adcoms place much weight on Letter of recommendation? Or are they just looking to see if the applicants have good work ethic using LOR's? Thanks!

 

[puncho]

Good grief...I know SDN is a place to ask for advice but I can't believe some of the threads that are started here that could be answered by themselves if one used COMMON sense.

Oh, and to answer your question, think of it this way...there's around 100+ people in classes, a lot of them might be thinking of graduate school, professional school. Now how many do you think researched with professors if each needs 2/3 LORs??

 

[natroncb]

First of all I would try to spend some time...1 day+ observing what the professor is doing and asking questions. This allows the professor to get to know you on a better level. If you have to do this with all three I would. The majority of applicants out there probably are in the same boat as you... so I wouldnt worry too much. Gaining acceptance to D-school is more based off your GPA and DAT. Letters of rec will certainly help you... but I dont think they will hurt you too much unless they are negative about your abilities, etc. Or possibly at the more competitive schools.

This sight is here to ask questions... go ahead and ask anything... people can then choose to respond. If the question sucks then nobody should respond. 😎

 

[ddsnp]

yeah i don't know how open professors are about having a student follow them around. Almost everyone asks for LORs from profs that they havn't done research with.

 

[onetoothleft]

one of my professors didn't even remember my name (plus I got a B in his class) when i asked him for a letter. Most of the time they are very willing to write one provided that you did relatively well in their class. Take 10 minutes to get to know the professor and come prepared with a list of your accomplishments/grades/etc. for them to draw from, or remind them of the good work you did in their class.

 

[homercles]

stupid question. Next.