Should I ask this professor for a letter of recommendation?

Do you have papers and/or old tests? Professors usually don't need to know about your hobbies and pets, but they do need proof of your excellent workmanship. I've gotten many great recs from English professors, some who'd long forgotten about my personal qualities, because they were able to go back through my papers and get a sense of my scholastic abilities. Because I'd saved all my old papers, it was easy for me to simply scan and email the copies to them.

This worked for me just fine. I had a weird, meandering, unusual academic career, and then I didn't apply for grad school until 3 years after college graduation. When I asked the one professor I both thought might remember me and trusted to write me a good recommendation was leaving the next day for sabbatical. In the Amazon jungle. With no access to email or mail or carrier pigeons or anything. So, after bemoaning my fate for a bit, I worked up the courage to email another professor, one I hadn't been at all close to but who had given me an A (this also involved contacting my school and tracking the guy down, as he had only been a visiting professor and was now teaching overseas). What I wrote to him, summarized: - I need a letter of recommendation. - I was in x class of yours and I majored in y. My final project in your class was on z. - What I've been up to professionally since graduation and why I want to go to grad school - I hope you would feel comfortable writing me a strong [key word here is strong] recommendation. I am happy to provide transcripts, writing samples, and any other information that would make this possible. I really wasn't sure what to expect in response, but what ended up happening is that he agreed but asked me to write the first draft (which was a little nervewracking, but ultimately meant that I could say good things about myself and dial up details about my performance in the class that he wouldn't have remembered). He says that the edits he ended up making were pretty minimal. And I got into my dream school, so I guess whatever he sent in worked. So, my advice is yes, absolutely, go ahead and ask. As long as you can provide info/materials that will give him something non-generic to write about, the worst that could happen is for him to say no.

On the one hand, writing a recommendation letter for someone I don't know from Adam's housecat is not a problem. Give me your name, any materials from the class I had you in, talk to me for a bit so I know some relevant details, and I'll write you a letter that's good enough that it's just barely true. This is a normal, expected part of the job and most anyone should be able and willing to do it. On the other hand, we perfesser types do tend to be drawn from the "socially awkward weirdo" branch of humanity (verging into the "malignant psychopath" side), so maybe he won't. On the gripping hand, do you have any letters from people in the field you want to do an MA in? Because those would be better.

You know, you do have time to make a connection with one of the professors in whose classes you have done well if there are a couple of months before the recommendation is due. I'd suggest picking someone you actually like who is doing work similar to what you are interested in yourself, or who has a background doing work like that. Then I would drop by during office hours, with copies of your tests/essays in that course, and maybe something else like a paper from another course, and be frank. Say you are interested in a recommendation, and although you know this professor does not know you well, you are interested in doing what they do/have done. Listen to the professor's advice, answer questions, get to know them. The result of this will certainly be a better recommendation than one based on your strong grades/tests alone, and might also win you a very helpful contact going forward. Congratulations on your strong performance at work and in school to date.

If you do ask this professor, I recommend visiting him to chat about what you've been up to in the past year. If he agrees to write it, send a thank-you email immediately following your meeting that makes his job as easy as possible - without looking like you're trying to spoon-feed him bullet points. Especially useful is if you can summarize the program you're applying to and what you've been doing in school (ideally, with some a tie-in from his class) that would make you a good fit for [grad program X]. Perhaps you can point out some of the things you're talking about in your personal statement?

You might mention that you'd be interested in stopping by his office hours to discuss the possibility of him writing a recommendation. That would give him a chance to remember you and to figure out a little bit more about you and your goals and how he might write you a rec that would be appealing to admissions committees. It would also give you an intuitive sense of whether he'd really be willing to write you a strong recommendation (as long as you do it respectfully, you can also ask about this directly). Profs. will generally be happy to write recs for students of theirs who have performed exceptionally well. One caveat: you don't mention whether you expect that the Spanish (language? literature?) that you studied under this professor will be useful or important in your graduate study. If you actually plan to use the skills you acquired under this professor, then it's doubly a good idea to ask for a recommendation.

Not entirely the answer to your question... you mention that your job has a no-recommendation policy, but do you have a former colleague no longer with the company that you could ask, or someone close in company that could write a recommendation as an individual instead of as affiliated with the company? If someone like this is available, you'd be more likely to get a good character reference type of letter than the generic former student type.

Thanks for the responses thus far. Yes, I do plan to use Spanish in my future, and will be discussing this in my personal statement. One of my other letters is also from a Spanish professor, however. This really isn't my only option, as I have been a great student and various people have commented on my work ethic and talent in person. The difficulty is that I've also been an extremely busy student that also has a job schedule to contend with and tends to be a bit shy and quiet outside of the classroom. There have been various other classes in which my academic performance was equally impressive, but the lack of report between the teacher and I makes it equally daunting. I am currently planning to ask my boss for a letter despite the company policy, on the off-chance that she will agree to write me a personal letter if I keep this quiet around the office and agree to never reuse the letter for any other purpose. This would be the optimal outcome, so I have my fingers crossed, but realize it is fairly unlikely.

Not the ideal situation, needless to say. But if it's truly your only option, then be sure to include with your request some documents that might orient the prof about who you are/were and, ideally, provide her/him with some easy examples, evidence, and details to fill out the letter itself. Otherwise, if she/he even agrees to do it (which is less likely, since it's tough to recommend someone you can't remember), what you'll get is the sort of generic, single paragraph fluff that admissions committees will see right through.