LOR from foreign prof Forum

[wondermut206]

I have a prof at my school that thinks highly of my work and seems to think I'm a good student (HA). I was thinking about asking her for a letter or recommendation. The problem is that she has a very think accent and has some trouble speaking English. I don't know how good her writing skills are but I'm a little concerned given her trouble with speaking the language. Does anyone have any experience with a similar issue? As I said before she thinks highly of my work and from what I've read it is best to get LOR's from prof's who are familiar with your work and can honestly speak highly of you.

[You Gotta Have Faith]

A foreigner wrote one of mine, and it worked out splendidly. Disclaimer: the prof's spouse was an English prof of some sort, so documents like that were sometimes looked at twice. In any case, a prof that is willing to brag on you is usually not a bad thing. Especially if their name is clearly foreign (indicating at least an understanding should anything grammatical happen), I'd say go for it.

[wondermut206]

How do you approach a professor for an LOR? Is an in person approach the best way or email?

[You Gotta Have Faith]

How do you approach a professor for an LOR? Is an in person approach the best way or email?

Forgive the brevity, but I'm just going to copy my response to someone else who asked that question:

I would recommend finding a professor with whom you did reasonably well in your class/es and one who you believe can write well and/or speak to your strengths and abilities. Ideally, you will want to have your personal statement done to give to them before they write it (but this isn't totally necessary, just helps). At least have a resume available. And at the very least, have an outline of your resume, if it isn't polished. They need to know what activities and endeavors you've been pursuing. This is something that will help your professor out a lot... they will be able to complement your application "theme" with this information.

Asking in person is technically ideal. But I think emailing to "discuss the possibility of them writing a letter" is also a great way to go. It begs a face meeting first. When you meet, give your materials (see above) and ask the painful question, "Do you feel you could write a strong, persuasive letter for me?" And if they even hesitate, find a different professor. On a side note, when you offer your materials, also give them tests/papers that you wrote in their class. And only give the good stuff. It helps to jog their memory on what an excellent student you were when in their class.

Hope that is somewhat helpful to you.

[wondermut206]

that helps, thanks

[im_blue]

This question is answered in Michigan's FAQ:

Will a recommendation letter from a professor who does not write well in English hurt my chances?
It definitely won’t hurt you – we won’t attribute your professor’s relative lack of English ability to you! – but it simply won't be a weight in your favor. If we have trouble understanding the letter, we will most likely simply ignore it. So long as you have one strong letter of recommendation from someone who is able to communicate easily in English, you need not be concerned.

http://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestu ... ationalfaq