How to get reference letters?

[shonamiller248]

I will be applying to a certification program for special education. It is not for a master's degree, but I would be considered a graduate student because I already have a degree. They want two letters of recommendation for the program, which must be from professors. Well,  it has been 25 years since I was in college.  Most of my professors would not even remember me, some of them might even be deceased or I might not be able to locate them anyway. Over the past 2 years, I have taken two college courses, but I don't know if those professors would even remember me either. I made an 'A' in each course I took. Both were online courses.   What should I do about letters of reference?????

[Loric]

Ask the school you're applying to. They likely have some sort of solution - it's rare (as in i've never heard of it) that your rec's have to be academic.

[shonamiller248]

Asking an employer would be a challenge as well. I have not worked in a long time.

 

I might take some more courses and see if any of the profs would write a letter for me. That is all I can do.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

First step is absolutely to get in contact with the program. Ask specifically about what they might suggest. 

 

In the meantime, start thinking: do you have any professional contacts? Maybe even a teacher friend, or business owner, etc. who can speak to your personality and capabilities? And in that case, you can ask them to talk about specific things, like your online courses and A grades.

[Macrina]

Ask the profs from the online courses. Remind them of when you took the course and your grade, they will give you a very uninformative/ok reference, something like "shonamiller248 took my econ666 class in fall 2012 and received an A, signed, professor dontremember" this will be enough to fulfill the requirement for a rec, and your application should be judged on the rest of it. Good luck.

[TakeruK]

Definitely ask the program you are applying to. Sometimes instructions are not written with only traditional students in mind, which is unfortunate! Maybe they might just say that the writers must be professors so that some applicants don't try to get e.g. their relatives to write one? Either way, you should ask them to clarify what you should do in your case and maybe they will even fix the instructions for future applicants!