Receiving recommendation letters after graduation

Question

I am applying for a few different masters' programs and I need three recommendation letters total. I graduated from university last year spring, and when I send emails to the professors I had for my major courses, the majority of them do not respond (they responded when I was a student on campus).

• Are professors more likely to ignore emails from students who are no longer affiliated with the school?

• Also, is it fine to accept recommendation letters from professors who taught courses that I received my minor in?

Answer 1

Are professors more likely to ignore students who are no longer affiliated with the school?

They often show the tendency for presenting the recommendation for the students, who had a live impact in their minds in view of academic performance, personality and so on. You can't expect from a professor to write anything useful about you, when he/she even can't recall you, deservedly.

On the other hand, leaving the academia and the school, within which the professor is affiliated, would not lead to his/her certain ignorance. In my own explicit experience, one my professors did present an awesome LoR for me, even though I'd left the department for more than 3 years. He did that with due attention to our constant communication and collaborating on some research stuffs.

is it fine to accept recommendation letters from professors who taught courses that I received my minor in?

Yes. The recommendation should come from the person, who can depict you, as well as possible. The lecturer of a minor course, could who be able to hit this mark, would be a right choice.

Answer 2

Likely they are just feeling very short of time. Don't give up; try phoning also; but also do reach out to some other people.

Make sure to include an unofficial transcript as an attachment, to jog their memory of who you are. I suppose a photograph might not be a bad idea.

Answer 3

I graduated from university last year spring, and when I send emails to the professors I had for my major courses, the majority of them do not respond (they responded when I was a student on campus)

Do you mean that you were in need of recommendation letters while you were still a student? Normally you will need to provide mark statements of your highest degree to the selection committee. I am curious to know the institute or graduate school you have applied while you were doing your undergraduate studies. Yours may be an isolated case, from my experience neither me or my classmates didn't have difficulty getting recommendation letters even if we were no longer affiliated to the institute. That said, there may be several reasons for the faculty not to reply your mail. The faulty

• thinks you don't deserve a recommendation.
• had brief period with you so that he cannot at the moment assess your skills for a recommendation.
• may just be busy or forgot to reply.
• don't know you.

Are professors more likely to ignore students who are no longer affiliated with the school?

From my experience, NO but there is a fair chance that you will receive late replies or may be ignored, the above points renders an explanation.

Also, is it fine to accept recommendation letters from professors who taught courses that I received my minor in?

Usually the admitting schools have guidelines (some have a specific format) for a recommendation letter and it is often stated that the letter should be from who had worked with you closely or have known you long enough to write with authority [1]. If you think this applies to the professors who taught minor courses, you are good to go.