<p>I'm still young won't graduate for a few years, but I just have a question about LORs.
To get into top graduate programs for engineering from average universities, how good should the LORs be? Do all 3 have to be amazing or can they be just "good?"
Another question I have is when you ask a professor for an LOR, can he say he won't write you one? I remember from high school, that even if you didn't know the person writing your LOR that well, they'll still write it. Is this the case in college also?</p>
<p>Your letters are your chance to have people tell the schools you are interested in attending that you would be a great student for them to accept. Why would you be willing to settle for letters that were just “OK?” Why not work to get three excellent letters? Get to know professors. Make sure you work hard and do well. Do research. If you have made an effort to be a good grad school applicant, your professors will most likely be willing to write you strong letters. If a professor doesn’t know you well enough to write you helpful letters, or if he was not sufficiently impressed by you to do so, he would be doing you a favor by telling you that you should probably ask someone else.</p>