I’m in first year at a large college trying to transfer to Columbia for my sophomore year and I asked the two profs that I had the best relations with for letters of rec. My physics prof (who I always stay after class and ask questions with) told me that she would not be able to comment on anything that was not strictly academic, basically nothing that the transcript doesn’t say, and that for some of those check boxes on the Common app she was probably going to leave them blank because she didn’t know me on a personal level…
My bio prof knows I’m smart. He casually acknowledges that my thinking is well beyond my peers’ level but when I asked him for a rec he told me that while he could write me a rec, it wouldn’t be compelling…
And this is after my psych prof told me she doesn’t write recs for first year students (even though she likes me as well), lol.
My last option is my bio prof. I haven’t asked him yet, but I don’t think he knows me. Though I am getting 100 in the course going into the final.
I’m honestly pretty flustered. I thought I was developing good relationships and my profs either shut me down or promised me a mediocre product. Sigh. Well what would you guys do?
I meant my last option is my calc prof, not my bio prof. My bad.
Since you are only in your first year (first semester of college), why not get your recommendations from High School teachers that you knew longer than a few weeks?
My daughter asked for a LOR for a scholarship. She was very disheartened when a professor told her she should ask professors who knew her better. She asked another professor. The scholarship was open to high school students and all levels of college, so the fre
I think most college professors are used to being asked for LORs for students heading to grad school, not for students they have had for one semester. Also, the transfer schools can only trust those letters if the professors are honest. If a professor gushes over you and then says “and I’ve known her for 12 weeks”? Not too impressive.
I’d see if you can include your h.s. letters, along with the ones offered by your current professors.
I would try to get at least one of the recommendations from a HS teacher who knows you better.
When my D got LORs for grad school she asked professors who knew her both as a student inside the classroom and outside of class (ex. she did research work with one, she worked closely on an EC activity with another).
Offer to take them out for coffee/lunch/dinner and see if they’d be willing to get to know you a little bit?
Well I called the admissions office and the two letters have to be from profs, bummer. I guess @twoinanddone is right, there’s only so much praise profs could offer having only known you for such a short time, right? I mean I’ve gone to office hours, stayed behind to ask questions, tried making small talk with them outside of the course content, which is about as much as a first year student at my school can do (short of @philbegas suggestion of taking them out).
I know that my recommendations asked me to email them with my degree and career goals and stuff like that so they could better craft their recommendations. Taking them out for a meal might be a great place to do that. Teachers have to eat right? Might as well eat free courtesy of yourself 
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say its possible you have annoyed rather than impressed the profs. In a post back in October you wrote
You always had the intent of impressing them and didn’t mind detaining them after class to do so, even after you realized they weren’t really welcoming it. They were curt, hoping you’d pick up on the vibe. Profs have office hours every week, a more appropriate time to meet with them. Now that you’re asking for recs I think the combination of you’re imposing on their time and their realization that you were likely gaming them to make an impression accounts for their responses.
@mikemac I don’t think I was annoying them. I stayed behind with my physics teacher because she welcomed it and I have a class right after bio so I wouldn’t have the time to stay after for bio anyways.
To be honest, I don’t think my profs realize the “magnitude” of the school I’m trying for (and I hate looking at it this way because I definitely don’t chase prestige, I’m not applying to any of the other Ivies), but Columbia’s a really good school and when I asked my three profs they were all surprised that I needed a rec at all, meaning they’re probably more familiar with the kind of school that only need your transcript for transfer, though I doubt telling them what school I’m applying to will sway their judgement, nor should it.
But hey, I still like my profs and I’ll try to talk with them regardless of recs. But I’d appreciate if someone could answer this: do you know how much weight schools tend to put on prof recs for sophomore transfers?
Maybe you haven’t annoyed them, but they don’t think from just knowing you this semester that you are good enough for an Ivy league school. Are you the best student in the class?
@CheddarcheeseMN My bio teacher has mentioned that my thinking is on the order of grad level students so I definitely would think that he’d have good things to say about me (he runs a course notorious on campus for being quite difficult and I’m getting above a 90). I don’t really talk to my calc prof, but I’d be surprised if I wasn’t at least top 5 in the course. I should maintain a 4.0 this semester but yeah, I don’t think my physics teacher thinks I’m extremely bright.