LoR been out for a while and didn't pal with any profs

[Texsox]

I am actually asking this for my son who didn't take my advice and log any office time with professors. Now he has been gone from his undergrad for a year and needs letters. He doesn't have any professor he feels comfortable asking for a letter. He was a good student, earned a 3.6 gpa, the problem is he feels anonymous in the classes and thinks professors hate doing these.

[Texsox]

I was also wondering what someone would do who earned their undergrad 15 or 20 years ago.

[Eigen]

As a start, I would say if your son is interested, he should be posting here rather than you.

I would also say that, depending, he might be someone who would benefit from taking some classes as a non-degree seeking student, to refresh the memory of some of his professors.

In my experience, a professor who had the student, even one who remembered their performance in class, but who didn't know them any more than that can't write a very convincing letter of recommendation.

[emmm]

I was out of undergrad 20+ years, so I did not bother even thinking of getting recommendations from my undergrad school. Instead, I took community college classes and did a summer internship at a local university, and got letters from those experiences. One program mentioned that letters from "people they didn't know" hurt my application, but I got into a program that is a good fit for me, so it worked out. I could have taken courses at the local U, instead of the CC, but they are MUCH more expensive and much less personal, so it would have been hard to form the relationships necessary to get good letters.

[Texsox]

Thank you. We were both sitting here reading, so it just kind of made sense to post with the account we had rather than log out, register, and start a thread. Sorry for the confusion.

[I'm a fact.]

I contacted professors for recommendation letters seven years after graduating, and I was also not a student that put in a lot of face time with professors. Just be straightforward and sincere with such requests.

First, I started with the obvious: it’s been seven years; you would not remember me. (Also, don’t go on for too long without making your request for a letter clear—in other words, don’t beat around the bush.) Then, I stated the title of the class I took with them (included the semester and year), the grade I received, and offered to dig up an old paper if I could find one. I told them what kind of work I’d been doing since graduating, and described the research I wanted to pursue as a graduate student (be in a position to provide them with a polished draft of your writing sample and statement). You could also explain why you are requesting a letter from them specifically (e.g., what you remember about the coursework and research you did for their class and how it’s relevant to your intended course of study). Finally, offer to meet them during office hours.

Include all of this information, but be concise. Some professors will respond positively and appreciate that you provided them with sufficient information for them to at least consider writing a recommendation letter for you; others will say no, but good luck.

People will advise you not to get letters from professors who barely remember you. This isn’t bad advice, however, there is no reason why you can’t reach out and get to know a professor years after being a student and persuade them to advocate for you. You may not want all three letters to be from professors from your undergraduate days, but I managed to get two letters from professors and one professional recommendation letter with good results. Again, the advice to not get letters from people who are not familiar with you or your academic qualifications is solid advice, but when I applied, I had few choices and did the best I could to get strong recommendation letters.

If you’ve been out of school for 20+ years then I imagine it is more of an issue to find professors who have not retired or died. If that's not an issue, then I would contact professors. Your son should, however, have few problems with refreshing a few professors' memories.

Best of luck.

Edited October 12, 2012 by I'm a fact.

[I'm a fact.]

See thread: (started on 08 October 2012)

They're sharing some good ideas in there.

[rockbender]

Another idea would be to ask his boss/advisor/person with whom he is currently working (as long as the work is relevant to the grad program he would like to apply to). I don't think the fact that this person is not a professor would be a big deal, especially if he/she knows your son a lot better than any of his former professors.

[TheFez]

Letters from employers are a bad idea.

The problem is that your son is what he is - somebody who did not lay the right groundwork for grad school and is less desirable from that aspect than other candidates.

That's what the process is designed to find out - who can get quality letters from 3 academics attesting to more than their coursework. LORs are not the only measure of a candidate, but the inability to get them is a signal that adcoms are looking for to help decide things that a transcript and GRE scores won't tell them.

Inaction has consequences. Hopefully if your son is committed and motivated he can overcome the obstacle with a strong SOP, good grades, strong GRE, a writing sample, etc.

The idea of taking a few classes for one semester to establish some bonds with faculty is not a bad idea.