<p>There's a former Chem professor who I would like to ask if I could use her as a job reference contact for an on campus job position, but I'm not sure if she even remembers me. Even though I always sat in the very front row (in the lecture hall the class was in, there were only 3 seats in the very front row), attended office hours once every week, attended all the review sessions (and asked questions), showed stark improvement in her class (an A in lab and jumping from getting C's on the midterms to getting a B on the final), and asked a lot of questions, and introduced myself once, I'm afraid that with the many students she has since then (since she often teaches more than one chemistry class in a given quarter), she won't remember me. Should I just try and contact her anyway and see what happens? BTW, I took her class a year ago last spring, if that helps, so it's not like it's been 2+ years since I've last had her class. </p>
<p>Since this is a job reference, it would be in your interest to stop by her office or set an appointment and discuss this with her first. You want to be sure she knows who you are, your goals and aspirations and then decided if she wants to give you the recommendation. I am assuming its a larger school and many students usually run into this problem due to the student-teacher ratio.
It will just show respect and courtesy on your part to met her in person before putting down here name on a form without her consent. I have heard that some professors actually resent that. In addition, since this is n on-campus job, she might even put in a word of mouth for you in addition to the required recommendation or better yet, guide you to other potential job opportunities.</p>
<p>I did say “should I just try and contact her anyway and see what happens?” So it wasn’t like I was going to put her down as a reference without contacting her first. </p>
<p>BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.</p>