<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I was wondering how do you ask a prof for recommendation? Do you say like Do you feel comfortable in giving me a rec letter?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>i usually send an email first and then if they agree, I show up to their office and give the appropriate forms to them and thank them.</p>
<p>You only ask for LORs from professors that know you well. If they knew you well, I'd assume you'de be comfortable enough to at least approach them and be blunt abt the fact that you need a LOR. There rlly isn't any maneuvering required.</p>
<p>When I went in and for a Letter of Recommendation from one of my old professors, he asked if I was here to ask about them. Don't worry about it; They have to write a lot of those things.</p>
<p>What if you're applying to, say, 6 schools. Do you throw 6 applications at them all at the same time then? I assume most of the time, if that is the case, a professor would write one LOR and then simply transfer the completed document onto the remaining apps, right?</p>
<p>Does anybody else feel ungodly uncomfortable with this prospect? I work directly with all my (intended) recommenders and I am nervous as can be about asking them. There are so many hoops for them to jump through in this process and I am nervous that they will blow it off. I plan to provide them updated cv's, research summaries, annual progress reports and such but i still feel nervous.</p>
<p>Part of the job description and known costs of having undergrads working in your lab is the possibility of them needing recommendations for graduate school and fellowships/scholarships. As long as you did solid work for them and are maintaining a good relationship, I don't see a reason why you should feel embarrassed. Heck, things are even easier now since most applications are online and you don't have to go through any of the addressing envelopes, calling to school to make sure the letters made it, and those things. You can send reminder e-mails through an automated service, check your status online, and they get to fill all of the info out online.</p>
<p>First and foremost ALWAYS ask for a GOOD or POSITIVE letter of recommendation. I was told this by my advisor who did write a few negative, but honest, letters of recommendation because students didn't explicitly ask for a positive letter.</p>
<p>Give your recommender all the information he/she will need to write a solid letter. Examples would be: CV/resume, personal statement, and/or academic transcript. If there are accompanying forms, make sure to include those as well.</p>
<p>Make sure to ask for the letter well in advance, say at least 4 weeks. Allow 2 weeks to go by, then politely visit or email or call your recommender to remind them of the deadline. </p>
<p>If for some reason an opportunity arises that demands a letter of recommendation in a short period... say 2 weeks... (which most likely will occur at one point), ask a professor that has written a letter for you recently. They usually keep their letters on file and adjust them as need for specific programs or jobs. So if they have written a letter within the past year, most likely they will be able to quickly adjust it to reflect any changes necessary.</p>
<p>One last important note....</p>
<p>When they have submitted the letter, follow up with a thank you card!! (It will make all the difference, especially when you ask them to write you another letter in the future!)</p>
<p>Thanks all for the posts.</p>
<p>"What if you're applying to, say, 6 schools. Do you throw 6 applications at them all at the same time then? I assume most of the time, if that is the case, a professor would write one LOR and then simply transfer the completed document onto the remaining apps, right?"</p>
<p>I might have missed it... but did anyone respond to this? I have this exact same question! I will be applying to somewhere around 10 programs total, including safety schools. How does one go about this w/regard to LORs?</p>
<p>Give them all of the information up front, make a spread sheet with timelines, and send them reminder e-mails (or drop by their office if possible) about three weeks before the deadline for each one if they haven't submitted it yet.</p>
<p>Unless you're applying to different programs and therefore need personalized LoR for each school, the prof will write 1 letter and make copies. Its not like those crappy UG applications where each recommender has to fill out different stupid forms for each college.</p>