Letter of Rec. for research program

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I decided that I wanted to apply for the bioscience undergraduate research program at my school. The program requires that I have a letter of recommendation from a college professor. I know that generally one gives a professor a resume of sorts to give the professor something to work with. The only problem is that I'm a freshman and I haven't really found anything thats really my niche yet, but I do think this program is quite possibly something I could really get into. I have all my stuff from high school that I could show a professor, but I feel like it probably isn't relevant.</p>

<p>The professor I'm close with is someone I've talked a lot about my career goals with so I think she may be able to write something based on that, but I'm not sure. I also had to write an essay about my interest in science and my career goals for the program should I give a copy of this to the professor?</p>

<p>Basically guys how do I go about handling this whole situation?</p>

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<p>I found myself in a similar situation a few weeks ago, though I ended up getting lucky and not needing recommendations. I don't know what I'd do in your place, but here are a few questions to consider:</p>

<p>If you were to give her a collegeapp-like essay, would it stand out? Some generally impressive accomplishments might give the professor something worth writing about even if they're not especially pertinent, but an uninteresting list of ECs probably wouldn't.</p>

<p>If you're close with your recommender, perhaps you could explain your hesitation and ask her if she'd still like to see a resume or if she'd prefer to write based on her own experience with you?</p>