How to get LORs

[enfuego]

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I go to a huge school where pre-health classes easily have over 600 students. There's one professor, and all of us pre-health kids are competing for their limited time, and it's tough going up against the brown-nosing pre-med gunners, especially for a shy person like me. Even in office hours, it's not one-on-one time with the professor - it's like another small class where everyone who shows up sits in a conference room and takes turns asking the professor questions. I've had some professors tell us explicitly to not show up to office hours unless we have a specific question to ask about the class material (makes it hard to try to talk to the professor about dental school, etc). And in general, professors encourage us to go talk to the TFs before coming to them. And as you can imagine, in a classes that big, the professor just stands up at the front and lectures, so there's very little participation involved from students. My school has separate weekly sections for each class led by TFs where we can discuss and ask questions.

So I'm trying to figure out the best approach for getting LORs. Should I go to professors at the beginning of the semester and directly say that I would like an LOR from them and ask them what I can do over the course of the semester to get a good letter? Or should I just dutifully go to class, sit in the front, go to office hours when I have questions, and then take a chance and ask the professor at the end of the semester? If I take the latter approach, what are some things I can do to try to stand out?

Also, are LORs acceptable from TFs? Majority of the TFs at my school are PhD students. We have much more access to TFs, and it's definitely easier to get one-on-one time with them. And again, since we have a separate section led by TFs specifically for participation, they know a lot more about how knowledgable each student is than the professors. Let's say the TF wrote the LOR and the professor signed it as well - would that be acceptable?

 

[DrEagleMike]

What school is that? Sounds rough. Sorry to hear about that hard situation. I think your first solution is a good one. Go at the beginning of the semester, and still sit at the front/attend office hours/ask (intelligent) questions in class/do well in class.

Are all of your classes that big? I would imagine that some upper division courses will be less full, which would be easier to get to know the prof.

No matter what, the professors know that they would have to write LORs, they had to go through the same thing. So don't be shy, and approach one at the beginning of the semester. Find out from some student at your school what they've done. (some one who's been accepted already). And try to figure out which instructors write the good LORs. Good luck.

 

[oreoson]

Try using foot in the door technique. Instead of asking them directly for LORs, ask them if they can give you an "insight" on your career path. If yes, then go on explaining your academic crednetials, ECs, research experiences etc, and at last pop the question: ask them if they are comfortable with providing a reference letter. Personally, this technique worked pretty well for me, but it's all about timing. Recently, one of my lab supervisors retired, my biochem prof is leaving for Europe in two weeks, my anatomy professor went to Rwanda, the dental school administor, whom I did workstudy for, retired last month... and I need 6 reference letters for this year, including 3 for the 2010 cycle, another 3 for master's in case I dont get in.

Anyways, good luck!

 

[grayzkule]

I was in a similar situation. I go to the University of Minnesota for my undergrad (I'm pretty sure it's 3rd or 4th largest uni in America with 55,000+ students) and applied and was accepted to the U of MN's dental school. They ask for 3 LORs, 2 from sci/math faculty and one from an employer. One of my sci/math faculty (my ochem prof) was a professor I had 2 semesters in a row. I went to his "office hours" (i.e. miniclass) enough times that he recognized who i was. Then i asked him out of the blue if he'd write a letter. (I got an A- in his first class (gen chem 2) and an A in his second (ochem 1)). I also included a 3/4 page letter about who I am and what I do and what my goals are. He was just like "....ok. I don't really know you but sure". Then i asked my phys prof, who i only had once, and NEVER had any contact with prior to write the 2nd one. He was basically like "I only know you as a number on my spreadsheet" and I was just like "ok, that's fine" and he did. Well, I got in... I think most of these HUGE class profs are used to being asked for letters and stuff, and I'm pretty sure they have some kind of template that they jsut fill in your name and grade and have the same beaming letter for everyone....lol

 

[2school4cool]

hey man! yeah i had a similar dilemma, but here are a few things i discovered:

1. does your school offer smaller classes for upper div? i know at my school the pre req courses are often packed but i got away with taking a research class with like 15 kids and got to know the professor really well.

2. can you like... find a way to work/ research for a professor that you already took the course in? i know friends who followed this route and got outstanding letters of rec. i personally tutored for a prof. and got to know her really well and she wrote one for me in like one day's notice.

3. some prof. are REALLY fickle... i went to one guy's office hours, all his lectures etc. and he never wrote me a letter because he was too "busy"

4. which brings me to the point: some prof. will write a letter if you get an A in the course despite not making any effort to go to office hours, class, etc. it just depends.

5. find friends who already got letters and then ask those professors because chances are, they probably will also write you one.

6. if you really can't get any, try a teaching assistant b/c they can sometimes get the prof. to co-sign a letter, which is acceptable. however, this is again fickle b/c some professors are kinda cocky and won't sign it.

7. it may be cool to get a work/volunteer/ other letter to show your commitment to other things...

in total, i just asked as many professors as possible... it gives you more of a choice. however, at the same time, i made sure that i could get 4 really strong, quality letters.

g' luck!

 

[doc toothache]

Also, are LORs acceptable from TFs? Majority of the TFs at my school are PhD students. We have much more access to TFs, and it's definitely easier to get one-on-one time with them.

They may be more accessible but a letter from a TA is not much better than one from a fellow student.