<p>grad schools want rec letters from professors, but profs have so many students, they can only remember you for so long. are you supposed to get a letter from them the quarter you take them, and keep the letter w/o even knowing where you're going to apply for grad school? do the letters have to be from profs? can it be from TAs? how many people still speak to their profs/TAs? i spoke to my TA a lot last quarter, and i emailed him a question and saw him today. i was a little sad b/c he didn't reply to my email and he didn't look too happy to see me. guess i'll cross him off that list. actually, i'm more sad, because i've emailed multiple people from previous classes to ask if I can reference them, and none of them replied. do they just not get my emails anymore b/c i don't have their classes. gosh. i gave them good evals too. >=O</p>
<p>Ideally, you should get them from upper division profs who've had you in multiple classes and know your work; furthermore, it is best if you have worked with those profs in a capacity outside the classroom (usually research assistant/lab, TAing, etc.). If the program you're applying to is competitive, then not having that kind of relationship with at least 1 professor is likely to put you at a severe disadvantage.
Also, while TAs (especially grad student TAs) often help profs write letters of rec, the prof's name ultimately has to be on it. As an undergrad TA, if I wrote a letter of rec for a student and signed my name, the grad program that student applied to would just laugh and toss my later without a second thought! (And it could actually be damaging to the student's application even further simply because the admissions committee would wonder what the student was thinking having another student write them a letter of rec).</p>
<p>While it's disappointing to not hear back from profs and TAs when you're not in the class anymore, it's also understandable if you're at a large school where profs are getting hundreds of emails each day.
Basically, my advice to you would be to build relationships with your upper division profs in your dept. Grad schools know that it takes effort to get to know a prof, and they know that only a small percentage of students will actually have the confidence and talents necessary to get to know and work with a professor well enough to get a decent letter of rec. This is one reason grad schools ask for them -- it automatically narrows their pool of applicants as they begin to see how you interacted with faculty! While it may not seem fair, your relationships with faculty and the department overall are important indicators to potential schools of how you might do there.</p>
<p>My husband teaches at a university. Not long ago, he had been contacted by an author who wanted to write a book about professor's complaints regarding recommendation requests......Apparently many students do not give their professors enough time to write these recommendations. I would suggest at least one month. Remember, professors are not just teachers, many have ongoing research projects & conferences/seminars to tend to. </p>
<p>In my husband's case, the people who asked for recommendations are usually the ones with questions after class & show a lot of interests in the subject throughout the semester. </p>
<p>I can assure you that my husband writes all of his recommendations. Also, it is important to show up in person with your request, rather than emails.</p>
<p>One of my husband's former student got into MIT & Johns Hopkins. He came back to visit when he's in town. Others send a Christmas card/New Year Card to let us know how they're doing in their new school...</p>
<p>I agree with apumic. </p>
<p>It's hard to accept the fact that we do ALL move on with our lives :) Though they are very busy people, bear in mind that those who care about you DO have their best interests for you in their mind. I've approached professors from all these years/semesters and not one was unhappy to hear from me (including a pair of husband-wife professors from my freshman year who were so sad to see me transfer out). </p>
<p>The best thing you can do is keep all of your papers and exams from that class so that it can be part of grad school application package (with your CV, Statement of Purpose, and perhaps a Writing Sample) to jog your professor's memory. Trust me, they'll remember when they see their own writing and they'll have to justify why they graded that applicant the way they did (I had one professor who eventually later thought higher of me than when I took his class and was VERY embarassed when he realized how well I could actually write after he saw my writing sample and ended up declining my request for a letter). Stop in their office hours every once in a while and share any news you have but dont' take the time away from waiting students.</p>
<p>You definitely want to build relationships with the upper level course professors as your abilities will be much closer to what you will present to graduate schools than when you were a sophomore or a freshman. The only exception would be your advisor who probably will hear a lot of stories about you and can build a history in the letter. You definitely want to consider your thesis advisor who will get to see how you really demonstrate your research skills- in fact anyone who can witness firsthand of your potential to succeed in graduate school. If you have a professor who gave you an okay paper back and asks you to come in the office later and one of the first things he says is that you can do much better and you have a lot of potential for graduate schools.... THAT's the guy you want especially if he helps you with your next paper.</p>
<p>So just some ideas there....</p>
<p>what if i don't want to go to the same department for grad school as i graduated from undergrad? like, if i wanted to go to professional school, or something totally unrelated to my undergrad degree? so, let's say i don't want to apply to grad school until 1 or 2 years later. Grad schools will still want a letter of rec. so i should just remind the professor i was in their class, and bring in some old work to remind them what we did, and ask for a letter?</p>
<p>If it's another dept, you should get recs from profs in both depts, assuming your major is at least somewhat related to the professional school. Most schools will also have an advisory board that takes care of pre-professional letters of rec... (especially common for pre-med programs)</p>
<p>If you've built a relationship with a professor, you really shouldn't need to remind them who you are, because you should have kept that relationship at least somewhat current by remaining in loose contact with them during the interim. If possible, remain in the same geographical area and do some post-bacc research or something w/ that prof.</p>