<p>What do you think is the best way to ask for references for grad school? I have been searching and see just as many "in person" as email. The email advice is based on the fact that you might make the professor uncomfortable if they don't want to say Yes or want to think about it. Writing their feelings is easier. Others feel it is more personal to ask face to face and you can watch their body language. Both said to give them an "out" by saying if they don't think they can write a good rec, to thank them and move on.
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>FIRST - DON’T OVERTHINK THIS - IT’S PART OF THEIR JOB!</p>
<p>If you’re planning to apply this fall, you should already have a good idea of who you’re going to ask - in a perfect world some of your professors will already have initiated “the graduate school talk” with you. </p>
<p>Whatever your situation, put together a packet with everything they’ll need (basically everything you’ll be sending in with your applications: transcript, GRE scores, SOP, etc.) and schedule an office hours visit. Mention the purpose of the visit if you can. Some profs will just say OK and take your packet, others will want to chat, so be prepared to discuss your plans in some detail.</p>
<p>Only use email if you’re no longer at the university or out of town for some reason.</p>
<p>FINALLY - get on this without delay as soon as you get back to school. Grad school applications are stressful enough - You DO NOT want to be in the position of asking for LORs the week before application deadlines hit. (Don’t worry about the application process - graduate schools will open a file for you as soon as paperwork starts to arrive so if your LORs show up before your full application it’s not a problem.)</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>it’s so not part of their job to write you rec letters
I even know profs denied to write letter for students</p>
<p>that’s why only ask the profs know you well, and gave you good grades</p>
<p>I don’t know if they all feel that way, I’ve read many quotes from professors saying they didn’t want gifts afterwards because it was part of their job and although nice, not necessary.
I agree though, ask the ones that like you and can say positive things…unlike high school, the obligation is different and grad schools don’t dictate exactly who to get it from.</p>
<p>yeah get this on early, they are busy people. you would want to give them 3 -4 months to write it… so now is about the time. I asked mine around Sept last year for Dec deadline. be sure to remind them of the deadline too even if you already include that in your package, cuz they will mostly miss it if you don’t</p>
<p>Don’t ask via e-mail. Schedule an appointment, explaining that you would like to discuss your graduate school plans. This gives your professors plenty of heads-up to consider whether or not they can write you a helpful LOR.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Good advice. Professors are unlikely to refuse you if you’ve really made an effort to know them and talk to them about your future plans. Typically it is obvious when a professor feels he/she knows you, and it is not an awkward thing to ask in person. If a professor is refusing you in person, or feeling pressured, most likely there was something seriously wrong about your call to ask the individual.</p>
<p>I will email to set up appt’s when I get back to school. I know my advisor will give me one and a Psych professor I got along with well, but the one closest to my interests, we just didn’t “click”. I guess I will see about him and not “over think” it…good advice.</p>
<p>It really depends on how well you know your professor. If they have already talked/worked with you extensively, they are expecting a LOR request, so an email is okay. If this is the first time you’ve asked for anything from them, definitely schedule a visit. Body language is indeed important. If a prof hesitates at all, don’t use him/her.</p>
<p>If you can do it in person, do it. Email works if you cant do it in person. I have also tried calling the prof when I was physically unable to go see them in person. </p>
<p>For those at big schools, in person also helps the prof remember who you were if it has been awhile.</p>
<p>as to email versus in person…
I prefer when students email me asking to make an appt to discuss the possibility of my writing them a letter of recommendation. I very much do not like being ambushed in my office by students that I do not know very well out of the blue. </p>
<p>I am very busy with my own graduate students, fellows and undergraduates. I do not tend to write letters of rec for students who only took a class from me and had no other interaction outside of class.</p>
<p>The undergraduates in my lab realize that I will of course write them letters of rec. They still email me to make a formal appt to discuss whether I can write a letter for the purposes that they desire! We also discuss what points they are making in their applications, what weaknesses they have in their file (a bad grade, for example), and if I can remediate the “problem” in their file with an example from their time in my lab.</p>
<p>I’m curious, what if all you had was classes with professors? My son’s school is very small and any lab research is very limited to a handful of students. Most students do projects independently with an advisor meeting with them from time to time. I realize a lot of colleges have larger facilities, but that isn’t always the case. I think in some ways it’s nicer and in others it leaves you a lot less choices.</p>
<p>Debruns, I assume based on your comments about “labs” that your son is interested in pursuing an advanced degree in one of the sciences. </p>
<p>Many of the students posting here have attended large universities where research experience is much easier to obtain and is performed at a world class level. LACs don’t offer that. Fortunately, grad schools understand that different schools offer different educations. The advantage of a small school should be that the professors know your son. They should be able to comment on his abilities as a student and a scientist. </p>
<p>But if at all possible, he should find some way to do research over a summer before applying to grad school. If he’s an entering senior this fall and wants to go directly to graduate school, he should apply anyway, but, if he doesn’t get good results, he should have a plan to do something about beefing up the research part of his application. The only reason that programs in the sciences want research is because they want to make sure the student knows what he is getting into, more or less. My D also attends an LAC, and while she has done some research in the past two years with a professor, it’s not at the level of top universities, so she’s had to look outside her own school for summer opportunities.</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew, you are correct (Psychology) and there just isn’t very many opportunities at his school. He couldn’t take an unpaid job this summer because his summer pay is put toward his tuition (at least 3-3500)but it was helping adults/teens with disabilities and he enjoyed it and learned a lot. I know grad admissions would understand that, but it doesn’t mean the admission result would change. He decided since he wants School Psych to go more for the Masters/EdS degree, and maybe apply to one PhD that is looking for students for a multi-cultural program. He can change later on or maybe he will decide that for now, this is what he wants. </p>
<p>He told me if he had gone to Clark for instance, it wouldn’t have been a problem with research, but at his LAC, there is a closeness with your professors, they all know each other, but opportunities for research, especially in his field are slim. He doesn’t regret his time there though, it helped his concentration to be in that environment and his grades are very good. He might need that extra year or two, but I am encouraging him along with his advisor to give it what he has and let the chips fall where they may in the spring.</p>
<p>Since he’s looking at School Psych, his job experience will be considered good experience for a master’s degree.</p>
<p>Your son should look at both sides: where previous graduates of his department have gone to grad school and where students of his prospective programs came from. My D is looking at neuroscience programs, and she told me that one top program has several LAC graduates as current students, which indicates that they understand the LAC education. Another program (which she rejected as not being right for her) has two students who graduated from her current college. She has meetings with two of the LOR writers when she returns to campus to discuss her list – and I’m sure they will tell her where other students have had success.</p>
<p>That is a good idea, I will have him look more into it. They did have a day when graduates came to discuss their outcomes, jobs, etc. He said one was in his intended field and she was enjoyng her work but stressed to him how difficult the psych test is to be certified, she didn’t want him to think it was easy, many don’t pass the first time. He looked into schools where that ratio was higher as he was forming his list.
Penn State actually, although a heavy research school, had students that came from LAC’s and small state universities. One student in their PhD program, told him (their email was available on the site) that she only did one summer at a school for autistic children as a counselor and one honors thesis and she got in…some with more experience did not, but I’m sure other factors were measured in. You never really know, although grad school isn’t as easy in certain fields as college and funding is given with Master’s to the top students usually. That in itself takes time, he found a handful of fully funded but they aren’t the norm. Is your daughter looking at that aspect at all?</p>
<p>My daughter will be applying to PhD programs in neuroscience, and they fully fund their students.</p>