Letter of recommendation help??

[Heather in AL]

I'm not sure which forum to post this in, so I'm cross posting here and on the High School board.

 

Is there a protocol for asking someone for a letter of recommendation? Specifically, a cc professor.

 

Ds is planning on applying for a summer opportunity and the application process begins in mid-Feb. He has taken two courses with the same prof (one this summer and one this fall--- final exam next week--courses are 101 & 102 levels).

 

What we would *love* to have is a letter specifically for the summer program's application and a general one for when he applies to college~~~ ds is only 15 and in the 10th grade (not sure if prof knows this), so there is a lot of time for the prof to forget ds which is why we're thinking of a 'general' letter to file away.

 

I guess I'm mostly asking *how* does ds go about asking this of his prof~~especially the writing of two letters? He's planning on asking prof during office hours, but other than that, he is not sure of what to do (me either, as I never needed a LOR). Also, if the prof writes a letter(s), is there a 'thank you' of sorts that ds should provide/follow up with?

 

Advice? :bigear:

 

Thanks in advance!!

[readwithem]

When will your ds apply to college? If he's > 1 year away I would recommend getting a more recent recommender for that.

 

For recs in general - my dd emailed her teachers (online classes) and asked whether they would have a problem giving her a great rec - IOW she gave them the opportunity to bow out graciously.

 

Yes we gave a gift card to every teacher who wrote a rec for her. I think we did Amazon since they can be used for a lot of different things.

Edited December 9, 2010 by readwithem

[Heather in AL]

When will your ds apply to college? If he's > 1 year away I would recommend getting a more recent recommender for that.

 

For recs in general - my dd emailed her teachers (online classes) and asked whether they would have a problem giving her a great rec - IOW she gave them the opportunity to bow out graciously.

 

Yes we gave a gift card to every teacher who wrote a rec for her. I think we did Amazon since they can be used for a lot of different things.

 

Thanks so much for the help. Ds went to his prof's office and asked him about a LOR and the prof was happy to write a letter.... ds will pick it up in early-mid Jan. The prof is making a copy for ds to keep in his high school file, so we didn't bother with a second, more general request since ds *is* more then one year away from University. Thanks for that tip.

 

At the least, ds will be writing a thank you card, but I do like the idea of an Amazon gc, too.

 

Thanks again for the help. Ds was very stressed at having to go to his prof and basking for a LOR, so having a bit of a game plan really helped! :001_smile: