Recommendations for getting rec letters

[Premedstudent149]

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It's time for me to ask professors for recommendation letters but I am having a bit of an issue on deciding who to ask. I am a relatively quiet person and did not really interact too much with my professors out of the classroom. I did very well in the courses that the professors taught, I showed up to all the lectures and asked questions, or gave answers to questions brought up in class, but that is biggest extent to which I interacted with my professors. I am just wondering if anyone had a similar situation, and what strategies you used to ask these professors for recommendation letters? I would really appreciate some advice on this.

 

[Premedstudent149]

Just ask. You'd be surprised, plenty are very nice and will help you out as long as you did well. And some aren't, so ask a bunch

Yeah, I think I am overthinking it. Thank you for the response.

 

[DrWhom]

This page is pretty helpful in trying to decide who to ask to be your ref and also how to ask them! I hope it helps, good luck 🙂

 

[Styrene]

It's time for me to ask professors for recommendation letters but I am having a bit of an issue on deciding who to ask. I am a relatively quiet person and did not really interact too much with my professors out of the classroom. I did very well in the courses that the professors taught, I showed up to all the lectures and asked questions, or gave answers to questions brought up in class, but that is biggest extent to which I interacted with my professors. I am just wondering if anyone had a similar situation, and what strategies you used to ask these professors for recommendation letters? I would really appreciate some advice on this.

Choose professors from the classest in which you did best, and maybe classes with a lower number of students. Ask them to comment on your performance, specifically in comparison to your current classmates and to the cohort of students from the past several years. This is assuming you, perhaps, did exceedingly well in a few classes. Of course, the extent of their positivity will be influenced by their general impression of you, as well. Asking via office hours appointment, showing up well-dressed, "selling yourself" in an understated manner, can have a positive effect on this.

 

[_Cloud9]

Good luck OP! I know it can be weird to ask for recs but for the most part they'll be nice about it 🙂 and yes ask a lot of different people so you have backups in case!

 

[Premedstudent149]

Hello, thank you for all your responses. I made a list of professors I would like to ask, but I am trying to figure out now how to approach them. My committee letter requires all my reference letters to be submitted at the beginning of May, and I would like to ask all my professors this week (the last week before my spring break), in order to notify them 2 months before the due date. To notify them on time, I was planning on emailing them asking them if they could write a letter for me, and seeing if there is a time where I can meet with them to discuss my activities, talk about letter specifics, etc. I'm having trouble writing this email and I was wondering if anyone has some advice?

 

[LizzyM]

Dear Professor [name],
I am a student in Bio 313 (or I was a student in your section of Bio 313 last fall) and, as you may know, I am planning to apply to medical school this summer. For that reason, I'm writing to ask if you would be willing to consider writing a letter of recommendation for me to be sent to the pre-med committee. I'd be happy to meet with you to talk about the letter specifics. I am available Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4 and all day Friday. Many thanks for considering my request.
Sincerely,
Premedstudent149

 

[Premedstudent149]

Dear Professor [name],
I am a student in Bio 313 (or I was a student in your section of Bio 313 last fall) and, as you may know, I am planning to apply to medical school this summer. For that reason, I'm writing to ask if you would be willing to consider writing a letter of recommendation for me to be sent to the pre-med committee. I'd be happy to meet with you to talk about the letter specifics. I am available Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4 and all day Friday. Many thanks for considering my request.
Sincerely,
Premedstudent149

Thank you