Hi Aska,
Let me just start of by saying I’m a little upset that I’ve been here at UofT for 3 years (going on 4), and I’ve only found your site now! SHAME.
Anyways, I was emailing you today for some advice. I’m going to be applying to graduate school in the Fall, and of course, I will be needing some reference letters. I’m a person that HATES asking people for things, so I’m really not sure how to go about this. There’s one situation that I am particularly not sure about. Basically, there is this professor (probably one of my favourite). Last year I took two small lab courses with him, so I worked very closely with him and he definitely knows who I am. I even spoke to him about graduate school on multiple occasions. Problem is, he won’t be here in September. I REALLY want to ask him for a reference letter, but I’m not sure how to go about it, ESPECIALLY since it will have to be via email. (As a side note, he is the friendliest guy you will ever meet)
HELP please!
And thank you 🙂
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hey there,
see?? this is proof that shamelessly promoting yourself isn’t annoying, because people are SAD, nay, DEVASTATED, when they don’t discover you sooner. on a completely unrelated note, aska also has twitter, facebook, google+, tumblr, and pinterest accounts. flolow4follw o.
it depends on the deadline for the reference letters, but i would e-mail the prof a few months in advance giving them a heads up and politely asking them for a reference. if you need their e-mail address, you can use uoft’s handy-dandy phonebook.
as for how exactly to go about it? my usual way is 1) remind them who you are (just in case), 2) write a paragraph explaining how amazing they/their classes are and generally buttering them up 3) then a paragraph briefly explaining your plans and what you need, 4) then a request that they contact you for more specific information if they want to help.
and make sure to say “dear mr. prof” and “kind regards, suzy” or whatever because if you want a favour from a fancy prof, you have to write a fancy e-mail.
obviously there is no right or wrong way to go about it, but since trying to write a polite letter to a prof is like jabbing your eyeballs with rusty spoons, it’s nice to have a template.
cheers,
aska