I would like to hear from other HN participants if they know of examples of that. /me raises hand It helps to be in a small department. A friend of mine at an

I would like to hear from other HN participants if they know of examples of that. /me raises hand It helps to be in a small department. A friend of mine at another (larger) school once asked me for advice on how to seek out letters of recommendation. The problem was that none of the professors knew who he was, since he'd only been in large lectures and never had the same professor twice. On the other hand, there were a few professors (2 in math, 2 in CS) who had taught multiple smaller classes I was in. When I was looking for recommendations, I had a lot less trouble finding professors who knew my background (including both other classes I'd taken and areas where I'd gone wandering beyond the scope of the courses they'd taught) well enough to write them. Most of the complaints I hear about professors/instructors being unreachable come from people who never make any serious attempt to reach them (i.e. so few try and so many complain that those who don't try must be a majority of those who complain). Beyond that, those who do contact the professor/instructor for additional mentoring typically aren't the ones who need it most.