My chances of attaining strong LORs?

[Rpxp]

Hi,

I am commencing a Master's in engineering this fall (UK student). Since I want to apply to top US PhD programmes during the Master's, I will be asking my new professors for recommendations pretty early on - say 2/3 months into the course.

A concern I have is the soundness of expecting my new supervisors to write strong recommendations when I have only been there for a few months.

What makes this more difficult is that I will be doing a taught Master's rather than a research one; our research project is right towards the end of the academic year.

Your advice/comments are welcome.

Edited April 14, 2012 by Rpxp

[ktel]

It's a valid concern. When I was applying for Master's programs I had a bit of an issue trying to figure out who I should ask for LoRs. I didn't start to get to know any professors well until my 4th year, and I had to ask them very early on in the process. I was working on two year long projects, so I asked the advisors for these projects, and they said yes. I will say that one of the letters one of them wrote very early on in the process was not strong, but his later ones were. Luckily the weaker one didn't affect my scholarship application. I didn't get to see the other person's letters, but I think he was a lot more knowledgeable about the whole grad school and scholarship application process, having served on ad comms and scholarship committees, so I feel he may have written a stronger letter.