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I'm trying to figure out exactly which professors to ask for a transfer letter of recommendation, and after reading Arrow's awesome post again, I'm becoming more and more nervous about this awkward ordeal. However, I think I may have gotten a break: my highest grade last semester was in a class where the professor, a visiting professor, isn't returning next year. This prof wants to remain in academia, but is having some trouble finding a job, it seems. At first glance, this professor seems like the PERFECT candidate to ask for a letter, but then again, could a letter like that do more harm than good?

Alternatively, I'm considering asking the prof who gave me my worst grade--one that was 20 points below my average and one that appears to be an anomaly. I talked to that professor for a good hour or so about the class, and have been regularly going to his office hours this semester. It looks like his exam was just ridiculously easy, making grading an extremely arbitrary game...that said, could a letter from him, someone who gave me a terrible grade, do anything to mitigate the damage caused to my GPA?

engineer wrote:I'm trying to figure out exactly which professors to ask for a transfer letter of recommendation, and after reading Arrow's awesome post again, I'm becoming more and more nervous about this awkward ordeal. However, I think I may have gotten a break: my highest grade last semester was in a class where the professor, a visiting professor, isn't returning next year. This prof wants to remain in academia, but is having some trouble finding a job, it seems. At first glance, this professor seems like the PERFECT candidate to ask for a letter, but then again, could a letter like that do more harm than good?

Alternatively, I'm considering asking the prof who gave me my worst grade--one that was 20 points below my average and one that appears to be an anomaly. I talked to that professor for a good hour or so about the class, and have been regularly going to his office hours this semester. It looks like his exam was just ridiculously easy, making grading an extremely arbitrary game...that said, could a letter from him, someone who gave me a terrible grade, do anything to mitigate the damage caused to my GPA?

You've probably got less than half a dozen professors. At this point, if you wanted to be strategic, why not just email them all and then feel out their responses?

On the off chance that I end up applying to transfer, would it be appropriate to ask a legal writing professor (in a graded legal writing class) for a letter of recommendation? Or do schools typically prefer LORs from only the substantive classes? I'm not one to volunteer much in class, so even in my best classes I'm not sure whether the profs would be able to write much more than how I did on the final. Any thoughts?

etudiantededroit wrote:On the off chance that I end up applying to transfer, would it be appropriate to ask a legal writing professor (in a graded legal writing class) for a letter of recommendation? Or do schools typically prefer LORs from only the substantive classes? I'm not one to volunteer much in class, so even in my best classes I'm not sure whether the profs would be able to write much more than how I did on the final. Any thoughts?

What I did in undergrad was send, along with a copy of my resume, a brief (~1 page single spaced) note that included my aspirations and what I plan to do in life. This, hopefully, helped them write a meaningful letter. I intend to do the same this time around, as well.