Unexpected
There’s a big new-ish building on campus called “Science Building.” Now, I’m a science major, and as far as I know this building has existed all four semesters I’ve been here, but before today I’d never been inside. I wondered what mysteries lay within its walls that no one had bothered to tell a lowly undergrad like me about.
Today I got to go in. Not that I wasn’t allowed to before, but today I had a reason to. After one class I went back with the professor to his office (which was in the “Science Building”—who knew?) to pick up a test I’d missed getting back when I was out sick.
On the way over he asked me about my surgery, when I would graduate, and what I planned to do afterwards. When I told him I was going to either grad school or law school, he said, “So I guess you’ll be asking me for a recommendation, right?”
He was absolutely serious, which floored me because I hadn’t even considered him as a recommender. Remember how I didn’t even know where his office was? Yeah. I don’t know this prof well. Apparently, though, he was eager to write me a rec, even though the only assignment we’ve had in his class has been the midterm exam.
Not wanting to let this strange opportunity go by, I asked him if he thought he could write me a *good* rec, and he said sure, sure, I was doing great* in his class. I said something vague about having my recs nailed down by the end of November and left.
So I’m thinking about it. It’s weird to me that a prof I’ve never talked to, in whose class we don’t have graded assignments, would assume that I would ask him for a rec. But hey, if he wants to do it, and he really does think I’m good at Physics, then why not? Hmmm.
Oh, and the building turned out to be not very mysterious and exciting after all. The parts I saw held only profs’ and grad students’ offices. There might be labs in there somewhere, too. Wild.
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* I got an 89 on the midterm, which was the second-highest grade, but I can assure you it was only because he threw us some huge softballs on that test. I don’t know the material well.