<p>Ok, so here's my situation:</p>
<p>Electrical Engineering from Purdue Unversity,
perfect GPA
great GRE scores
good SoP
Have been TA'ing for 2 years</p>
<p>But I don't know any of my professors, so I don't think I can get any really good LORS. And I want to apply to top 10 engineering schools. </p>
<p>Will my LORs hurt me really badly?</p>
<p>What about the profs you’ve been serving as TAs for? Don’t any of them know you? What about any places you’ve done research? Didn’t you get any of them to know you? My understanding is that for grad school, they really care about letters of rec from profs who know you well, but ask your advisor for more guidance. </p>
<p>Congrats on your other sterling qualifications.</p>
<p>My guess is that not knowing any professors means not a lot of research experience which from my understanding is a very important part of your application, but I am still in the middle of applying so I obviously dont know everything. Have you done research with somewhere other than Purdue? Any internships?</p>
<p>The class I TA’d for had a different professor each semester and I never got any contact with them (there were a couple of us and the professor would just email us now and then).</p>
<p>As for research, yeah, I did some research over the summer and that’s really it</p>
<p>Would chat with the research folks & see which of them could write you a strong letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>What about your co-op experiences? I thought Purdue had everyone participate in them. That should provide some folks you could work with. What does your adviser recommend? They are paid to help the students figure out what they’re doing after they graduate from the U.</p>
<p>Yeah, guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk to the professor I did research under. As for coops, Purdue doesn’t require them though we do have an excellent coop program. Will talk to my adviser</p>
<p>you definitely should get from your research advisor. be sure to give him your credentials, i’m sure he will be happy to write you a good rec.</p>
<p>also i don’t mean to hijack the thread, but when should we be asking for letters? My apps are due beginning of Dec…</p>
<p>I already asked 2 of my references if they will write me nice LORs. Well, like, it wasn’t much of a surprise. I just said I’ll make sure to send them everything they need and make it as easy as possible for them once I determine the schools/programs I am applying to and write a draft of my SOP. I’m sure my third writer knows it is coming too. I will ask that person 4-5 weeks prior to deadlies, so in 3-4 weeks I think.</p>
<p>what is “perfect GPA”? 4.0?</p>
<p>
Your recommenders really should already know who they are by now. Giving them the materials for writing LORs two months in advance of the deadline is also courteous, so they should be receiving those from you sometime soon.</p>
<p>when should one start asking professors for LORs?</p>
<p>Mr. Zoo, yes, 4.0</p>
<p>Thanks guys, appreciate all the help!</p>