pogopuschel

What if you don't go there and regret it for the rest of your life? It's better to go and find out that you'll be miserable quickly than living with doubts and "What if" regrets later on. If you're not absolutely sure about something I think it's always best to verify it as quickly as possible, even you turn out the be right. Cheers from someone else in Japan

Thanks for the responses so for. Thanks. It would probably be best to do this in person but I'm not living close to my undergraduate institution anymore so unfortunately that's not possible. And even though I worked for this professor as a TA we are really not that close, I was mostly dealing with the other TA's. It's true that only 2 LORs are required to come from academic sources. However it seems like letters from academic sources are more highly regarded than industry ones. Also, I'm currently self-employed so I don't really have a boss that could write me a letter of recommendations. Sure, I could ask one of my clients or partners to write one for me with basically anything I want but I doubt that would be looked favorably upon Thanks for the other suggestions. I'll definitely try to ask professors I've gotten an A with even though they may not know me. If they don't seem enthusiastic about write a LOR suggesting that it wouldn't stand out then I could always decline the offer or move on to another one. I'll definitely try to take or audit a class at another institution and try to get the know the professor. Of course I can't just enroll as a regular student so I'll have to look into possibilities for auditing. As far as I know that requires consent from the professor. Does anyone have experience with this? Maybe I could say something along the lines of "I'm very interested in applying to grad school but I'd like to get a taste what it's like, etc"?

Hey everyone, I am planning to apply to a Master's program in Computer Science, mainly at Stanford. I went to a good undergraduate school and had a high GPA. I also have a strong reason of wanting to go to graduate school and related industry experience in the field I am trying to specialize in. I think I can write a very strong statement of purpose. My problem are LORs. I never imagined I would want to go to graduate school and wasn't interested in research during my undergraduate studies. Similarly, I basically never went to office hours for my classes because I didn't feel the need to. In short, I don't know any professors. I was a TA for one class which also included weekly meeting with the professor, so that would be the only person I feel kind of comfortable asking for a recommendation letter. That means I'm still missing 2, possibly 3 since I don't even know if that person is willing to write me a letter. Since the application deadline is in December I still have time to make up for it. But how do I go about getting to know professors now that I'm out of school? Should I email a bunch of people and ask for volunteering position? Should I take or audit classes at another university? Any other possibilities? I'm no longer living close to my undergraduate school either. Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks for any kind of input