<p>So I'm planning on transferring, my GPA is great, everything is going well first semester of college, but I'm starting to worry about teacher recs. Four out of my five classes have like 200+ people in them so I can't really stand out in those even if I go to office hours, there's still like 30 or more people there. My only class that I do feel confident about getting a rec in is my calc class because it's a small class of 25 and I stand out in the class because I've been acing all the exams. The only problem is my calc professor's proficiency in English is highly questionable, so I'm not sure what to do really I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Any tips or advice I could get from you knowledgeable people out there on this website?</p>
<p>bump*************</p>
<p>Get a research job with a prof, belong to clubs with prof advisors.</p>
<p>You will have smaller classes when you get into higher courses. Don't worry about it too much. If you find a prof you like, take a second class from that prof. Even with 200 students, repeat business is always appreciated. Write to the instructor, leave a voicemail, and be persistent.</p>
<p>How long are you planning on staying before you transfer? If you have a minimum of 6 months left, I would try to get a research job, as hmom5 said. Those make for some of the strongest possible letters, assuming you put time and effort towards your research:) Try to pick research that you might have at least SOME interest in though; self motivation is a pretty big part (especially when one doesn't get paid). You may even surprise yourself and really enjoy the work. I know that many professors won't even write letters for people that they have in large classes due to the weirdness of just not knowing a person well enough. This certainly isn't the case with all profs though. But, a lot of them consider getting an "A" in an introductory course to be "doing your job" and nothing more (even though that may describe 10 students out of 200).</p>
<p>Also, as themovies said, your more advanced classes should get smaller and might have certain components (such as oral presentations, ECT) that allow you to really stand out aside from just an exam. Try to find "journal clubs" or seminar type courses (when you feel ready) that force you to dive deep into current topics and journal articles. In the absence of research, this is a really good way to at least show the prof. that you have an aptitude for understanding new, current material that's interesting to him or her and hasn't been in introductory text books for the last 50 years.</p>
<p>If you're planning to transfer for next year, I doubt that you have time for the research position or advanced classes approaches, because most transfer applications are due by March 1. It's almost Thanksgiving, you've likely got a 2+ week break in Dec, that leaves a couple of months of working. And you won't even start the new semester/qt until Jan, not many profs are going to want to write a LOR for a student they've known such a short time.</p>
<p>I'd say to go with your Calc instructor, you could give him some written info about yourself to help him with the LOR. In your larger courses, how about using a TA? </p>
<p>Remember, the AOs know that you've only spent one semester at your school and that you're likely taking large lower division classes, so they don't expect that much from your LORs. If you get good ones, that's a plus, but if they're average, it's unlikely to affect your application significantly.</p>
<p>I agree with entomom. And would add that if, when you visit office hours, it turns out to be a "group" thing... which is what I think you meant when you said there are about 30 people there..... you should, instead, make an appt with potential recommenders.</p>
<p>You can do this just to talk with them about their subject matter and get to know them better and/or you can do this specifically to talk about the idea of transferring and their writing a rec for you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good ideas entomom and andale and thank you for everyone's advice in general, I'll look into making some one on one appts., talk to my Bio TA and calc prof about it.</p>