<p>Any graduate schools in the states (California or west coast) that DON'T require the letters?</p>
<p>are you having problems securing them or something? that seems kind of shady ...</p>
<p>^You're funny. There's nothing shady. It's simple, I just couldn't get close to my teachers.</p>
<p>If there's one that doesn't, you wouldn't want to go to it. But I really doubt one exists anywhere.</p>
<p>Every discipline I have heard of seems to heavily weight LOR's, no matter the school. What about an adviser? Employer? Do they specify that they need academic recommendations?</p>
<p>What's your major/field? DO you need grad school or can you work and build an employer relationship and go back to grad school later.</p>
<p>One need not be "close to" one's professors to get excellent letters of rec. Just ask the professors in whose classes you did best.
And provide them with one of your SOPs, as well as a resume.</p>
<p>You need to be talking to the professors in your intended field about which programs to apply to anyway!</p>
<p>Just curious, what kind of things would you hope that your recommender would ideally say about you? Or, what makes an excellent LOR?</p>
<p>And what is an SOP?</p>
<p>Statement of Purpose.</p>
<p>Did you have any sorts of senior projects or classes where you had a professor as a supervisor? Did you do any sort of research during your time as a student (summer or school year)?</p>
<p>I think nearly every graduate program requires at least 2 letter's of recommendation. My advice would be to get an entry level job in your feild, quickly build up a good relationship with your supervisor then ask them for a LOR after a month or so. </p>
<p>You can still ask past faculty members for a LOR even if you didn't feel like you connected with them. Just provide them with the necessary information to write a good letter (someone mentioned this earlier).</p>