<p>I need advice from those of you who’ve been able to secure Letters of Recommendation from professors for Grad School, Jobs, Internships, etc.</p>
<li><p>How did the professor get to know you? Were you a research assistant? Did you just go to Office Hours a lot? etc.</p></li>
<li><p>How did you go about doing the above? Did you ask if he needed a research assistant? Or did you use Bruinview? If you went to OH a lot, what did you talk about? How did you start conversations?</p></li>
<li><p>How did you ask the professor to write a letter of recommendation for you? Did you feel confident that he would say yes, and so you asked directly? Or did you ask first about what he/she thought of you as a student/ research assistant?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Would appreciate any and all helpful replies. Thanks.</p>
<p>It just depends! For me at least, I've found that I've had interests under the umbrella of what XYZ prof was studying or I liked the course material and talked to them about it after class and that sort of thing. </p>
<p>Research assistant? What do you mean and in what context? (subject, course, etc.) </p>
<p>I've only used BruinView to take a glance at upcoming events at the Career Center or to see if there were any presentations from XYZ companies. </p>
<p>As for OH - it sounds like you're being strategic about this or that you haven't encountered any interesting professors that align to your interests (and vice versa)? Otherwise, things are just forced and you wouldn't want someone who hardly knew you and only had your recorded grade to write a LOR for you? </p>
<p>Yes, I felt confident my professor would say yes. I did well in the course. I had honest questions throughout it and it wasn't forced for me. We shot emails back and forth and that sort of thing. Yes, I asked directly.</p>
<p>Regarding research assistants, I was thinking about doing the 99- or 199-series courses so I can help a professor with research, so we can get to know each other and I can get a recommendation.</p>
<p>I guess I just have a problem coming up with interesting questions to keep a conversation going with a professor, whether it be after class or in OH.</p>
<p>I sit around someone's office a lot, and many students who request letters simply have had him for one or two quarters, and received B+ and higher grades. Most of them were getting for med school. </p>
<p>He agreed to do most of them; except for this one guy who was pretty rude. Of course, you won't know what they will say, but you should be polite and friendly while asking, the last impressions are important too.</p>
<p>If I ever need one, I'll definitely be asking him, but I know him very well personally.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link emmeline; I didnt know about that site. But yeah, none of the econ professors I've had have sparked my interest in anything...probably because I'm more interested in business, management, and finance than I am in econ. I'm also gonna try my accounting professors though, maybe I'll have more luck there.</p>
<p>moldau, when you say you sit around a professor's office a lot, what do you mean? Like you work for him? Or you're just at his OH a lot?</p>
<p>hey, i’ve been quite close to one/two of my profs this fall quarter 2007 but i am only a freshman. i am hopefully medical school bound…should i ask them on the last day of the quarter or wait later??</p>
<p>I went to OH alot, had her for two quarters now (counting this one). I happened to ask her for a recc for a program which she runs (go figure), I got an A+ in the class last quarter. </p>
<p>Hopefully my research prof. will give me reccs as well - former IBM guy and nanoscience guru.</p>
<p>Plenty of my engineering friends have 3.5+, I’m on the very low scale with a 3.1+, had some pretty bad quarters. The professor was my ochem prof. So…not exactly the easiest course. And yes, 3.9’s and 4.0’s are VERY possible. Just work at it. I’ve improved from 2.8/3.1 to 3.5’s, hopefully i can get a 3.6-4.0 this quarter.</p>
It will be challenging as you are taking 31 without previous experience. </p>