<p>Greetings all, as my Junior year of undergrad comes to an end I am hit with quite a conundrum. One of the professors who knows myself and my work ethic the best is retiring at the end of this semester and once she leaves I worry I will be unable to get a letter of recommendation from her. The problem here is that I still do not know where I will apply for Graduate School yet, I have only just begun the search process and I will be taking my GREs over the summer to hopefully help me narrow my list of potential programs. Would it be odd to ask for a generic letter of recommendation from her before she retires? Or, should I try to get some sort of contact information which will probably be hard since she is a somewhat quirky and reserved person, who seems to only be available during the school day?</p>
<p>No, it wouldn’t be odd to ask her before she leaves. Just say that you’re planning on applying to graduate school in the future and ask if she’d be willing to write you a letter. Many professors are still available to write letters after they graduate, or she may be willing to write one now and keep it on file for you, either on her computer or perhaps at the school, if they have that service (through the career services center or the department or something). I believe there are also online services that do this, but I’ve never used one. Ask if there’s a way that you can keep in touch with her in the future, if she is willing to write you a letter (or just in general, if you had a good relationship with her). It shouldn’t be much of an issue.</p>
<p>That makes sense to me, I never even thought to myself that the university can probably just keep the letter on file. I will talk to her, and if she is willing to write me a recommendation or two, then I can probably talk to the department staff to see if they can hold them for me.</p>
<p>Check with your school’s Career Center office to see if they have a reference letter service, as mentioned by Baktrax above. Many schools will file letters of recommendation and then forward them (with a certifying seal or stamp) for a number of years after you graduate. Even if a retired prof is ill or dies you still have access to the rec.</p>
<p>. Would it be odd to ask for a generic letter of recommendation from her before she retires? Or, should I try to get some sort of contact information which will probably be hard since she is a somewhat quirky and reserved person, who seems to only be available during the school day?</p>
<p>You could just ask her which one she would prefer.</p>