<p>So I'm currently at USC's Marshall School of Business. I've decided that I will be sending in a few transfer applications for Fall 2010. However, one of the things I'm afraid of at the moment is the teacher recommendations. I know I will be asking my French instructor (Grad Student) to be writing one of my recommendations. Now my problem comes with my 2nd recommendation. By the end of this semester, I will have taken 4 classes in the business school, 2 last year and 2 this semester. The problem is that the 2 classes last year were in large lectures and I didn't try to "make myself stand out" just simply because the material was extremely basic stuff that was learnt directly from the textbook. This semester I am taking 2 business courses: accounting 1 and business statistics. The accounting course is taught by only 1 professor. Thus, he teaches over 400 students each semester for this 1 class alone. My statistics class only has about 30 or 40 students, but our professor is from Asia. It is very apparent that English is not his native language (he even told us in his Visas he misspelled his last name, thus it is now wrong on all of his papers). I could probably stand out if needed, but I do not have much need to see him during office hours as all the material makes sense to me. Also, he tends to have an attitude a lot of the time, so I'm fearful that even if I did stand out, he'd still write a few negative things. I do have my writing professor from last year who I feel would write a wonderful recommendation for me, but I am afraid that it'll look bad if I don't have at least one business professor write me a recommendation. Also, I had her at the beginning of my freshmen year, so it wouldn't be as recent.</p>
<p>So in short I have 3 options for my 2nd recommendation:
1) Business professor who teaches hundreds of students for this 1 class.
2) Business professor who does not speak English natively and may possibly write a few negative things.
3) Writing professor who would probably write a good recommendation, but it would be from fall of my freshmen year.</p>
<p>So what seems to be the best thing for me to do? My French instructor I will definitely ask to write a recommendation. I don't know if waiting till next semester to find someone would work either incase I can't find a professor I'd feel comfortable asking, also the fact that they wouldn't have had me for long before writing a recommendation. What would you guys recommend me to do? Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Are you looking to transfer into another business program? If so, you probably ought to drum up someone who can write about how well you do in business related courses. Talk to the two instructors you have right now, and see how you feel after the personal interview with them. If you still don’t like either of them, talk to the instructors from last year.</p>
<p>If you are transferring into a non-business program, you don’t need a business LOR so the writing prof. would be OK.</p>
<p>Yes, I would be either applying to other business schools/programs or fields as close to possible to business.</p>
<p>But that’s a good idea about talking to the professors I have right now. But should I be telling them of my intentions to transfer or what should I say? Should it be more like “Oh, I don’t really understand this, could you help me?” and then analyze how they help me? I’m just afraid of going to see my professors from last year. I got B’s in both of their classes. In one of the classes I’m almost positive the professor would not know who I am. The other one may vaguely remember me, but there wouldn’t be much she could write about me as the only interaction was during discussion classes, and then it was still limited based on the format of the class.</p>
<p>But thank you for the advice happymomof1 and hopefully you can help with my questions!</p>
<p>this is offtopic but why do you want to transfer OUT of marshall? that’s my top choice for next year. is something wrong with marshall? are the academics not hard/good enough?</p>
<p>Marshall (and USC as a whole) is a very good school. Don’t get me wrong about that. It’s just that it’s not really the right fit for me. USC wasn’t ever one of my top choices. The main reason I applied was because my sister went here (wrong reasons, but hey, it’s too late now to change that). When decisions came back, I ended up getting rejected from all my top choices and it came down between BU and USC. Unfortunately, I couldn’t turn down USC because it’s vastly superior academic recognition. I tried to make the best of it, but I just always have a lingering feeling that I’m not getting everything I should be out of my college experience. At this point, I feel that transferring would be the best option for me. However, most of my friends LOVE USC with a passion and could never envision themselves anywhere else. So this is more of a personal choice, not because USC is bad or anything.</p>
<p>At least if it’s your top choice, paying the 50k a year may be worth it. But when you’re having questions about being here, paying 50k a year is not easy when you have no financial aid But yeah, Haas is an amazing school, but the only issue is that you aren’t guaranteed admission even if you’re in pre-business.</p>
<p>Do you know if marshall is generally generous in financial aid and scholarships? my parents make like $55,000 a year (about the cost of tuition…). i have a 4.0 so far after 35 units…i really want to go to usc but i cant even dream about being $100k in debt</p>
<p>I’m assuming you’re applying as a transfer. For scholarships, it is much more difficult to get one as a transfer than as a freshman, but they are available. However, financial aid is generally very good, even for transfers, if you’re eligible.</p>
<p>“I’m thinking about applying to transfer to X U, and would like to know whether you fee you could write a positive LOR for me.” should open up the discussion pretty well.</p>
<p>Expect the prof to ask why you are unhappy at USC and what you think you can get at X U instead. Have a clear reason for the transfer. Have a clear back-up plan (leave of absence for a semester? semester/year abroad? semester/year as a visiting student elsewhere in the US? continuing and graduating from USC?) in case the transfer applications fail, to discuss with the prof as well. Ask their opinions about the school(s) you are looking at, and about the alternate back-up plans. </p>
<p>Thanks happymomof1! I wasn’t sure if that was too blunt just to ask them that, especially if I don’t really know them as such.</p>
<p>Luckily, I actually have been trying to narrow down my reasons for transferring since the last time I posted a board. And I have also thought about back up plans too! You have been such a great help. Thanks again :)</p>
But yeah, Haas is an amazing school, but the only issue is that you aren’t guaranteed admission even if you’re in pre-business.</p>