How to tell a professor you want to keep in touch without being awkward?

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northernlights15

northernlights15

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So I'm turning in my final soon and I want to wish a professor a happy summer and tell him how much I enjoyed the class and that I hope to see him around. I want to ask him for a rec letter in the future but I won't be asking until like December.

How can I express that I want to stay in touch besides "I hope to see you around in the fall"?? I do actually want to write to him over the summer (about the subject matter related to our course) and stuff so he can talk about what a wonderful and intelligent person I am (hopefully) in my letter. But I don't want to say "I hope to stay in touch" because I feel that's really awkward.

ideas???
 
northernlights15 said:
So I'm turning in my final soon and I want to wish a professor a happy summer and tell him how much I enjoyed the class and that I hope to see him around. I want to ask him for a rec letter in the future but I won't be asking until like December.

How can I express that I want to stay in touch besides "I hope to see you around in the fall"?? I do actually want to write to him over the summer (about the subject matter related to our course) and stuff so he can talk about what a wonderful and intelligent person I am (hopefully) in my letter. But I don't want to say "I hope to stay in touch" because I feel that's really awkward.

ideas???
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Honestly, the bolded sentence is more awkward than just saying "I'll see you around next Fall!"
 
okay I hope it's as simple as that.

I hope he replies to my emails. I mean he's a nice guy so he should. It will be so awkward if I send him emails and he doesn't reply!
 
I'm not gonna tell him I'm a wonderful person just because I email him about stuff over the summer! I just hope that's the impression he has of me. @gettheleadout
 
Are you planning on taking a class with him in the fall? If so, just tell him that and ask if there's anything you can be doing to prepare yourself in the meantime. If not, why are you waiting 6 months to ask for the letter?
 
Salt Salt said:
Are you planning on taking a class with him in the fall? If so, just tell him that and ask if there's anything you can be doing to prepare yourself in the meantime. If not, why are you waiting 6 months to ask for the letter?
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I would but unfortunately my schedule won't allow it. I want to ask him in the future so I can still get to know him better and he'd have more things to say from interactions in the next 6 months.

Plus I heard letters have to be dated the year of and I am applying summer 2016.
 
Professors are people, too. They've had to ask for letters of rec thoughout their education, and understand you have to do the same. Tell them you hope to keep in touch; then email them in a few months asking to meet so you can speak about the possibility of them writing a letter. Don't make it harder than it needs to be
 
Mr. Hat said:
Hmmmm..... tough question.

I would say first buy a dozen roses. Then each day, for the next 12 days, place one of the roses along with a card saying "thinking of you" by his door. Office door is OK, but finding out where he lives and putting it by the door to his house would be better. Then, on the 12th day, write "here's to making new memories together, call me...." with your phone number on the card. If he doesn't call you within 5 days, stand outside his house until he acknowledges you.

Hope that helps!


.....


Haha 🙂 In all seriousness, there's nothing wrong with telling him you're planning to apply to medical school, and asking him if he could write you a letter of rec down the road. Doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
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I've met his wife (who happens to really like me) so I couldn't do that to her!!

Hahaha I wanted to ask in person! I don't want to seem like I'm being friendly just for a rec letter.
 
Maybe buy them chocolates. . .a glass of wine or beer? LOL 😛
 
northernlights15 said:
I would but unfortunately my schedule won't allow it. I want to ask him in the future so I can still get to know him better and he'd have more things to say from interactions in the next 6 months.

Plus I heard letters have to be dated the year of and I am applying summer 2016.
Click to expand...

Within a year is also what I have read, but it seems a bit ridiculous to me. The continuous flow of your coursework, so long as it is not too stretched out over time should speak too. Asking a prof from 3 or more semesters ago to write a LOR for you is insane. They just have too many students--regardless of how special or exception you are. Who makes these idiotic rules????

If this is some HARD AND FAST RULE, I intend to bitch about it on the "What's bugging you now" forum. LOL

It's just what I call Stunnodish!
 
Or you can just have him write you a letter now while he remembers his interactions with you. Have him send the letter to Interfolio and save it until you need it.
 
I don't want him to eventually deny me a letter due to conflict of interest… so that doesn't work @Tired
 
onyisraw said:
How much does his wife like you?
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She thinks I'm so lovely!! She told me when she met me she's heard so many wonderful things about me and I'm guessing this is because my professor likes me.
 
ardanzhan said:
I hope he replies to my emails. I mean he's a nice guy so he should.
5n.jpg
Click to expand...

Right?

OP, please have someone sane read your emails to this poor dude before you send them.
 
Just ask him to write you a letter now. He can always re-date it next year when you actually apply.
 
northernlights15 said:
It will be so awkward if I send him emails and he doesn't reply!
Click to expand...
northernlights15 said:
well it's true…I just don't want to be awkward!
Click to expand...

You need to forget about this. Every interaction you're going to have with someone isn't always going to be picture-perfect. Sorry. Sometimes **** doesn't go right, or you say the wrong thing. Point is to know most people are going to be understanding and won't judge/hate you for making something sound "awkward." Forget about that nonsense and stick to what you're going to say - that's what's important. When you're focused on your goal, and not how you look to someone else, you'll be surprised at how quickly you forget about whether or not a given interaction is pleasant, and how quickly you finally just get what you want.

Oh and one more thing: I saw you said you wanted to do it in person. Try reconsidering that. It may not be the best choice in all situations. If you've got a good rapport with this person, then fine. But if you think they might need to think about the decision, an e-mail may be better. There are differing opinions on this, however. But plenty of med students on here got their recs exclusively from e-mail requests. The argument is that it gives the prof more time to consider his reaction to your request. Maybe the prof would say yes in an actual confrontation but then doesn't feel like he can deliver when he actually thinks it through? E-mails can avoid this, because it will give him time to think it over. That's my argument anyway - of course, you've got your counterarguments for face-to-face requests (more respectful, shows backbone, looking someone in the eye and requesting something is more persuasive than text on a screen, etc.). However, like I said, some of those reasons can actually hurt you - you don't want to be too persuasive, or you may end up pushing him into writing an LOR that actually won't end up sounding very good.

northernlights15 said:
Plus I heard letters have to be dated the year of and I am applying summer 2016.
Click to expand...

I don't know how many other ideas like this you have in your mind, but think to yourself if you have anything else you "heard" that you're not sure about. Then check it with the search function. That's what this place is for.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-old-is-too-old-for-a-recommendation-letter.134012/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/old-letters-of-recommendation.1070921/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ecommendations-for-the-upcoming-cycle.901133/
 
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