<p>I've seen multiple threads about LORs and some have suggested that your LOR sources would be good if it came from professors who had connections at where you're applying. Would it be a huge/medium/mild downside if they don't? Also, will it be rude to go up to them and ask "hey do you know anyone really well at this school or that?" Something tells me that wouldn't be a good way.</p>
<p>When I was deciding where to apply, I sat down with my professors and asked them, “Where do you think would be good places for me to apply to?” They naturally suggested universities where they had colleagues who they knew and respected. </p>
<p>I don’t think anyone was pulling strings for me, but I am convinced that I would have not gotten into Princeton or MIT if my references had not been collaborators of professors on the admissions committee. I don’t think connections (or lack thereof) mattered for my applications to below top-5 programs.</p>
<p>I would guess that your interests should come before your professors’. In other words, I wouldn’t apply somewhere just because your professor knows someone there, especially if you don’t care for that program/school. </p>
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<p>I don’t think it’s a good way either. Let that conversation happen naturally, such as when you’re talking to them about letters of rec (if you haven’t already) or getting advice from them in general. </p>
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<p>I highly doubt that it’s a downside. The hundreds of applicants probably don’t have alumni connections. Now, professor connections may be a positive factor in your application but it is small compared to the “big stuff.”</p>
<p>Ultimately schools are admitting you based on your candidacy, not your professor’s. Would you really want to go to that school if they did it that way anyway (haha, don’t answer that)? Plus if you’re applying to 8+ schools, what’s the likelihood that one, two, or three professors have connections to all of those schools?</p>