Meeting professors for LOR

[rusalka]

What do I bring, exactly? What do I do, besides discuss what I plan to do?

[Rising]

They know what they are doing. Provide them with your SOP, CV, transcript and program details. This is usually what they ask for. Good luck!

[fuzzylogician]

To be maximally prepared:

- Know what programs you're applying to (or at least, which ones you are considering and roughly how many schools you'll apply to overall). Also, in case they ask, why those schools and not others. Be able to provide a short description of your interests and grad school plans.

- Know the deadlines, and most importantly the earliest ones.

- Ask if submitting electronically is okay (it should be for the vast majority of professors, but make sure), and verify the email address and contact info you'll be providing (should be the prof's academic email address, so just make sure that's the one they want you to use).

- Agree on how you'll communicate with the prof (emails, most likely) and set up a reminder system ("I'll send an email to let you know when you should receive email prompts from my schools, once I've updated your contact info. Would it be ok if I send a reminder 2 weeks and then 1 week before the deadline, if you haven't submitted your letter by that point? Would you like more/less frequent reminders?")

- Know what you'd like them to highlight in their letter. Offer to provide a bullet-point list of things that would be relevant for the letter. Offer to send them your CV, SOP, and writing sample(s). They may also want to see a transcript.  

[rusalka]

SOP? Also, what type of writing samples? All of the professors I am asking for LORs have had me in their classes. I am honestly not sure what should be highlighted in a LOR. I am applying for an MS in public health, so I'm not sure exactly what should be highlighted besides the typical things: hard working, analytic student etc.?

[sjoh197]

14 hours ago, rusalka said:

SOP? Also, what type of writing samples? All of the professors I am asking for LORs have had me in their classes. I am honestly not sure what should be highlighted in a LOR. I am applying for an MS in public health, so I'm not sure exactly what should be highlighted besides the typical things: hard working, analytic student etc.?

I never gave my LOR writers my SOP, but instead briefly explained who I wanted to work for and what type of research they were doing. They all knew the work that I was already doing and my general interests. I think by "know what to highlight" fuzzy may have been referring to things that the professor might not be aware of... relevant awards, more in depth personal research accomplishments, etc. I didn't even have a writing sample. The one poster I did, they all saw, so.....

 

I personally gave each my cv, transcript, and a link to the personal page of the person I wanted to work for, and an open invite for any other info they might find necessary. 

[fuzzylogician]

3 hours ago, sjoh197 said:

 I think by "know what to highlight" fuzzy may have been referring to things that the professor might not be aware of... relevant awards, more in depth personal research accomplishments, etc. I didn't even have a writing sample. The one poster I did, they all saw, so.....

Keep in mind that even if they are supposed to know, they have other students and things on their mind. Your grades, papers, awards, etc. might not be as vividly recalled by them as by you. So help them make sure everything that should end up in the letter indeed does. 

[amolang]

I provided my Statement of Purpose when I visited my reference, and she said, "You want to get into a Ph.D. program for this? Read writings of XXX, XXX, and XXX."

So I read all the books and revised my research theme, sent her updated files although she did not reply til Nov just to give her impression that I was doing my homework and I was serious about this plan.

One day, she called me and gave me 40 minutes of feedback. By then, I was kind of stuck because I knew there was something bugging me I didn't know what the problem was. Then I revised my writing based on her feedback and she said "Now you sound like you've got something."

Well, I stopped updating on my Statement of Purpose to others who did not respond to my writing at all ("sorry, I was busy! did not have a look at your mail" or something)

So, definitely yeah, I would recommend showing your Statement to your professors and see how they react.

 

Edited November 27, 2015 by amolang