cronus88

Wow. I really appreciate your answer. It's been so hard to get somebody to give me some advice with this, yet alone someone who actually knows what they're talking about. What you say makes sense. I'm going to go ahead and do that. I also felt that it might be a bit strange for a professor to all of a sudden get a big packet in the mail without touching base beforehand. Once again, thank you. Thank god I found this forum.

How do I request letters of recommendations when I never got to know my philosophy professors on a personal level? What is the most polite way? I'm sure they remember me. I took so many damn philosophy classes. Yet I never really spoke to them due to social anxiety. You see, I have always been an extremely shy and self-conscious person and had all sorts of issues relating to that during my undergraduate. It was pretty bad. Only now am I beginning to change and work on myself, but unfortunately what is past is past. I've decided that I would like to go to grad school to get my master's [for the overall purpose of a stepping stone to a doctorate] in my field, however, most of the schools I plan on applying to require 2-3 letters of recommendations. The good news is that I did very well in my major during undergrad since it is my passion, and I've saved almost all of my graded papers with great comments from my professors still on them. I was wondering how I should go about asking them for letters of recommendation now, since I really need their help to help me achieve my life goal. Should I just email each professors separately telling them who I am and my story and ask if they'd write a letter for me? Or should I mail each one the request typed and printed out, along with a photo of me, and possibly the actual A-papers they've graded for me as proof of my ability? Asking them in person is NOT an option. I am over a thousand miles away from my campus and broke. Thanks a lot. I'm really confused as to how I should go about this. I've heard asking through email is rude and mailing them the request would be more appropriate, but I have no idea and would like some more opinions.