Getting LOR's

[kilograham]

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Getting letters of recommendation are one of the things that really baffles me. Classes can be so huge, etc, half the time the prof doesnt even know your name. I am curious as to your personal strategies toward getting an LOR? Do the prof's ever say no? For one reason or another this is the part of the process causing me a great deal of anxiety (I still have most of my pre-reqs to do, so I am just trying to figure out how to really get a handle on the situation).

My problem is I rarely have a question to ask. I could understand if I had some questions and went to office hours every week, but I never seem to have anything worth asking. What to do?

 

[onetoothleft]

Choose the professors who will endorse you the strongest.

Other than that, just ask them. I had a very similar situation, and I just asked them cold turkey (you must talk to them in person initially, they ignored my emails 🙂 ).

They did not remember my name. They were very cooperative, wrote adequate letters (sometimes they want you to write them and they sign them. If so, maybe come prepared with one that you have written or at least a sheet of ideas for them).

Then keep on their case. They will probably forget until you call two weeks later to follow up.

 

[Sprgrover]

...Classes can be so huge, etc, half the time the prof doesnt even know your name...

I agree, go ahead and ask 'cold-turkey.' I was forced into getting a LOR from a professor that I liked, but felt that he wouldn't know me, let alone recognize me. When I approached him he knew not only my full name but a bunch of positive, anecdotal information about me that I can only begin to guess as to how he acquired it. He was also more than willing to write me a letter of recommendation and was flattered by my request. I mention this to illustrate the point that although you may feel as if you are just a face in the crowd, your professors may know more than what you think they do and it doesn't hurt one bit to approach them with a LOR request.