I’ll be applying for masters programs next year, after I graduate this coming spring. Right now I know I’ll have one LOR from a professor who I’ve been doing research under. I’ve been a part of his biostatistics lab for about a year. However many of the grad schools I’m looking at require 3 letters, and i haven’t really gotten to know any other professors. I think the other two will just have to be from professors whose classes I’ve taken, but I don’t know what kind of a relationship I need to have with them in order to ask for a LOR or how to get it. I’m assuming that I have to be more than just some student who succeeded in their class. Do I just go to their office hours a lot for help and make sure they know who I am and that I can understand the material? I’m not sure how it works if you’re not doing research with them.
Why not ask the professor you’ve been doing research with how to go about asking other profs for LORs?
Your college likely has someone in Career Development who focuses on fellowships, grad programs and other academic post-grad tracks. Why not reach out? They’ve heard this question before and likely have an answer for you.
My daughter is applying to grad schools now and went to an info session for one program that’s she’s applying to and this question actually came up. The program director admitted that LOR’s can be hard to come by, especially at larger schools where you maybe don’t get a ton of face time with professors. His recommendation was to do exactly what you said and start going to office hours so your professors get to know you. Maybe ask questions, show interest in the material, etc.