they simply say non-things such as "this person was in my class, they had rank xyz, they came to office hours, etc." before i knew how to ask for letters of re

they simply say non-things such as "this person was in my class, they had rank xyz, they came to office hours, etc." before i knew how to ask for letters of rec (be sure to clarify explicitly whether they're prepared to write you a strong letter of rec) i had a prof fill 90% of the letter with his own biography (yes this was also the first time that the letter writer sent me the letter he'd written).