<p>How should I ask for a letter of recommendation from a professor who I had no direct personal contact with, and all he knows is my test scores/letter grades in the class?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t
Find a teacher that actually knows you. Otherwise the teacher won’t be able to give you anything more in your recommendation than could be seen from your transcripts.</p>
<p>I would say it’s okay. Just give him/her a list of things about you to write in it. Make sure they are willing to write one (they’re nice) too.</p>
<p>Agree with NB and disagree with sk. A recommendation or reference from someone who only knows you as a number on a class list will be worse than useless. The expectation is the reference is able to talk about you and your potential as a student and provide information not on the transcript, resume, and other materials. Because the person reading the letter expects the author knows you well and has a good opinion of you, lukewarm and superficial recommendations and references hurt more than they help.</p>
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I would recommend you at least ask whether the professor would be willing. Depending on the professor and the course, the professor might know you better than you think. This is probably more true of courses where you had to do substantial creative/free-form/independent work (compared to a course graded by Scantron or a squad of TAs). If you did really outstanding work on assignments and/or exams, and any of that went by the professor, odds are that it didn’t go unnoticed. Professors tend to notice when students do honestly good work, since it’s so uncommon.</p>
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<p>Would this still hold true if this is a course where you’ve done a major empirical project?
I feel like getting to know the teacher is still possible to do after the fact.
You could start by asking additional questions about topics that were covered in class and if the teacher seems receptive, eventually mention the recommendation.</p>
<p>I have found that it is extremely difficult to make any personal contact with the professor in a lecture of a few hundred people. All of my classes this past semester were of the same nature. What would be a good step to take if I’m looking for a letter of recommendation if I haven’t made any personal contact with any professor?</p>
<p>Am assuming this is at college, not high school level…Try your smaller group Teaching Assistant? or Resident Assistant?</p>
<p>Send an e-mail. Pros: virtually zero awkwardness… you either get no response or a positive response. Cons: expect no response. My take: try this on your less-than-hopefuls; some may know you better than you think (based on your work), and some may just be dying to feel relevant.</p>
<p>Go to their office. Pros: you’ll get an answer, typically fairly quickly. Cons: expect a negative answer, and to receive it awkwardly. My take: try this on professors you feel like have a fighting shot of knowing your name. Odds are that if you remember them and you think there’s a chance they remember you, they probably do.</p>
<p>Call them on the phone. Pros: a nice middle-of-the-road approach which might catch otherwise wary professors by surprise. Cons: getting people on the phone in the first place can be tough. My take: use this technique on your wildcard professors.</p>
<p>Seriously, it doesn’t matter. Grit your teeth and make them feel awkward, if you have to. Odds are you aren’t the first person who has asked them for a recommendation, and if they stay in academics, you won’t be the last. They had to ask for recommendations, too, and everybody feels awkward when they do it, because it’s asking your superior to do you a favor. They’ll understand that it’s awkward, and will probably try to deflect. That’s been my experience.</p>
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I really, really wouldn’t recommend this. Getting a canned recommendation from a professor is one thing… getting a recommendation from your TA? Come on, TAs would give recommendations for a Coke and a sandwich, and everybody - including people reading the recommendation - would know that. If you don’t agree with that assessment, you’re probably a TA and you’re eating that sandwich and washing it down with that Coke right now.</p>
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<p>Agreed. I was in a class this semester with literally every junior mechanical engineer (~75 people), and I had little outside contact with the professor besides a few cursory emails about assignments or lecture material, but I just received an email from him to a selected group of students yesterday, asking me to possibly intern with his research group in the spring/summer, and I can only assume this came as a result of the hard work I put into my final project in that class. </p>
<p>Sorry for the digression. I’m just saying I personally am bad at making one-on-one contact with professors, but hard work doesn’t go unnoticed most of the time, so it’s definitely worth a shot of asking. I would ask via email, but that’s just how I operate.</p>