<p>How can I go about getting a letter of recommendation from one of my prerequisite professors? I have one year until I apply and have a good rapport with several non-prerequisite professors so I have that one covered. So far in my pre-med classes my biology professor was unapproachable (mean even), I never visited my chemistry teachers office hours, and I had class during my o-chem professor's office hours. So that just leaves my physics professor next semester but from what I read (on class reviews), he has a very difficult time understanding students' English sometimes and is hard to talk to during his office hours because he misinterprets questions. What can I do?</p>
<p>Should I tutor chemistry perhaps and then visit my chemistry teacher for advice frequently and eventually ask for a recommendation? </p>
<p>I still have an o-chem lab 2 to take so I could possibly visit my o-chem professor with questions until I feel comfortable asking him? What exactly should/can I do?</p>
<p>If you want a GOOD letter of recommendation (you can always just ask), I recommend establishing a relationship with the prof by seeing/communicating with them regularly and asking closer to the time you apply for a letter. The letter does not need to come from a pre-req prof. Are you taking any science classes beyond them?</p>
<p>There’s no one way to get a letter, and honestly it’s more about the relationship you have with them rather than just the amount of time or what not. Honestly if you force the interactions (which I tried once) it’s going to just be awkward. For example, for me, only one of my reqs was a teacher only (the others were PIs, one of whom also taught me in a class, and my boss at Kaplan). The class was actually not science and was only about 30 people tops. I didn’t speak too much with the prof during the class per se but I just did super well and was very vocal in discussions in class. I had a habit of always writing thank you emails to profs at the end of the semester (nothing detailed, just one or two lines thanking them for a good class) and based on her response I figured I could ask her for a letter.</p>
<p>If a prof speaks bad english, (and hopefully they know it), what often happens is they have someone else (sometimes even you) help write it. If the only thing stopping you from asking someone to write you a letter is their english, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>