Pretty self-explanatory thread, just wanted to hear everyone's opinions. Let's say you were one of the top students in a class and ended up with an A-, but you weren't one of the BEST students who got an A. Is it still worthwhile to ask the professor for a Letter of Recommendation?
Would you ask for a Letter of Rec if you got an A- in the class?
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An A- is not a bad grade. More important is that you get a LOR from a professor that knows you and have conversed with. Otherwise, you'll get a standard LOR with nothing distinguishing about it.
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This. I got a letter from a prof whose class I earned an AB in. When I met with her, she mentioned that I did "VERY well" in her class and wanted to comment on the development of my writing/communication skills in her letter. If you know the professor well enough and know he or she will write you a good/great letter, then go for it!
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Please do not ask for a rec letter unless you got a solid A. An A- just isn't the same as an A. If I were a professor, It would be unethical to recommend someone who didn't get an A. I hope this was helpful.
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Yes.
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Not sure...if serious.
But to the original post, I have known one of my professors for two years and had asked him for a letter during the middle of the semester while taking one of his classes.
Well fast forward to the end of the semester, it turns out I got an A- in his class. I emailed him, but he told me I got a 92.1 and only missed the A by a point, and congratulated me on doing well. I'm still asking for a letter.
If you've seen an empty condensed letter of recommendation form, there is only 1 category for how well you do academically: Top 5%, Top 10% etc...and the rest are how well you communicate, your leadership skill, etc. There's going to be 1 smaller deficit compared to every other category. Ask a letter of recommendation even from someone you got a B in but knows you well...
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Irrelevant. Your intelligence and work ethic will show in grades and MCAT. Get your letters from people you actually know. I got one from a class that I got a B in, but I loved the class, and spoke to the professor in office hours frequently. That letter is much better than what I would've gotten from my organic chem professor that I spoke to on one occasion, but was near the top of the class. Letters are to see what kind of person you are, grades are superficial.
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I got a rec letter from a professor in whose class I got B....oh no! haha. Just kidding. The class was hard and I met with her a lot and we worked through stuff together. She knew me as a student, and knew that I also wasn't afraid of asking for help..which I think is an important quality. It is much more important for the professor to know you, than for you to have gotten a solid A in the class, especially when it was a difficult one.
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Yup, you can still get a letter.
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Of course, an A- is fine. If you're considering the professor, that means that you feel you had a good rapport with them. Heck, an A- is a good grade. I would be proud of it, especially if it was in a tough science class.
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I just looked up some random school's recommendation form on google (most are very similar to this) as follows: http://gradschool.fiu.edu/downloads/Letter_of_Recommendation.pdf. You can see yourself that the first category pertains to knowledge, and the rest is generally how you express either the need for knowledge or the communication of knowledge. Also, there are many further questions that can be answered by the recommending person to explain in support of his position.
As someone who has taught undergraduate classes for the last 4 years and is now going back to school and asking for LOR's I will give you my opinion, take it or leave it. Your grade in a class has very little to do with whether a professor will give you a good LOR or not. Grades are one of the great lies of the educational system, they say that you can comply with forms. And this is good. We would not want rogue physicians out there as many TV shows glorify. That said, especially in schools with small class sizes, who you are and how you interact with your classmates and instructors says a lot the quality of an LOR that a professor can write for you. I have had several brilliant students who just slid by and assumed they would become physicians because they were intelligent and their parents were physicians. I would not give these students a good LOR to say the least. Would you want them as your physician? On the other hand, I have had students struggling to pull off a B who are excellent communicators with a great work ethic who I would bet my life would make great physicians. Let your professors get to know you. Show them your initiative, and the LOR will take care of itself.
