Asking for Recommendation Letters

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm applying to transfer for my junior year and I had a couple questions about getting a rec from a professor. </p>

<p>I have three professors in mind- one from a writing class (I got an A), another from an english seminar (A), and one from bigger english class (A-). </p>

<p>The writing teacher is probably most familiar with my personality. We used to meet one on one to go over essays, and she always really liked my ideas. Plus I participated in class a lot too. The only thing is, she as a person as kind of socially awkward and also, I know she liked me a lot, and I don't want her to be disappointed in me for transferring (I'm transferring from a big, prestigious university to a smaller, more personal liberal arts school). I feel like asking for a transfer rec can already be a potentially uncomfortable situation, and I want it to be as un-awkward as possible. Since I had the most personal relationship with this teacher, my asking for a rec to transfer might be more awkward?</p>

<p>I got As on most of my papers in the english seminar, and I participated pretty well, but I might not have been as much of a standout. This teacher is much older than my writing teacher and is very well recognized as a professor. </p>

<p>The bigger english class was the most recent class I took, but I don't know that I performed as well as I did in the other two. Positive side is that the teacher has a daughter who I went to high school with and was friendly with, so she might be slightly more willing to help me out. </p>

<p>Any suggestions? Also, how do I go about asking for one? I don't have any of these professors as teachers this upcoming semester, so I can't exactly go up to them after class. Should I ask them over email, or ask to meet with them in email? Or should I just find them at their office? ...I'm trying to do this in the smoothest way possible. I guess lots of other people have gone through this though, right?- People "transfer down," so to speak, all the time and have to ask for recs.</p>

2

<p>Ask the professor who know you (and your academics) the best. Asking for recs is quite common in academia. </p>

<p>I would ask the professor in person if s/he would be willing to write you a strong letter of recommendation. You can use the prof’s reaction to decide if want this person to write you one or not. Then I would arrange to set up a time to meet. During this meeting is when you tell the professor that you need a recommendation for transferring.</p>

3

<p>I would suggest your writing teacher as the first choice for rec’ letter. The second one would be your bigger class professor. And the last one would be the english seminar professor. The reason for that is, in my opinion, the admission just want to know about what kind of the person you are in the view of the professor. So you want someone who knows you well to write a rec’ letter for you.</p>

<p>I am also working on the rec’ letter now. I have decided to ask my spanish professor to write one for me, since she knows me well enough. Even I just get a B from her class(Spanish is my third language, kind of hard to me, haha).</p>

<p>Or if you can, ask all of your prof. to have a rec’ letter, so that you could make your final decision yourself. (only if you can do so)</p>

<p>And finally, I think transferring is part of your academic path success. Prof. should understand this kind of need from the studens. And a real good friendship with the professor would not be harm by this little factor. So don’t be afraid to ask for a rec’ letter. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>I second college-ruled: Always go with the person who can write the better recommendation (provided he/she is a professor), and scrutinize their reaction to gauge how supportive their letter will be. You should waive your rights to see the letter, so you can’t really ask all three and then judge them after the fact.</p>

<p>Check out the recommendation post in the Transfer 101 thread.</p>