Been nice knowing you too, sir!

There are certain possibilities in life we all know exist, but don't ever really expect to happen.

Among these is asking for a letter of recommendation and getting turned down. Sure, it could happen, but you know, you're most likely to ask for recommendations from a professor who was happy with your work. And why would such a person decline to help you?

I now have that quandary to wonder about this morning, after receiving just such an e-mail from a prof who gave me an A (or the equivalent thereof) in his class three years ago. He explained that if our school had allowed for it, it would really have been an A- rather than an A (which I knew, as he'd explained it to me at the time). Heaven knows, a PhD program is no place for an A- student.

To be fair, I can't entirely blame him. His area of expertise is quite different from the one I wish to become an expert in, although the two are somewhat related at least. He also wasn't among my top three choices to ask for letters, and perhaps he suspected as much. (Of those three, two said yes but the third never bothered to reply to me. I think he would say yes if I pursued the matter, but then I don't trust him to write the letters on time if he can't even get back to me without pestering. That's why I needed to ask someone new in the first place.) And he did offer me some well-intentioned - if not really helpful to my particular circumstances - advice on who else I could ask.

Still, it wasn't a very nice surprise to get this morning. I learned a lot from the guy, enjoyed the experience and got a grade I was pleased with, even if it wasn't the highest grade possible (although officially speaking, it was). This hasn't destroyed that for me, but it does leave me feeling a bit irritated all the same. I always have hated that rather large segment of the academic community which considers an A- as good as an F, and this only adds to that. Also, it means I didn't make nearly as good an impression on the guy as I had thought. Plus, there's the hassle of still having to find one more recommender when my applications are otherwise mostly done.

I have already sent off another request to another professor, who is probably a better match for my interests anyhow, and I have several other options even if he says no. This is probably just a minor bump in the road, and to tell you the truth, it just makes me want to try that much harder so I can prove the arrogant bastard wrong. Thanks for the memories anyhow, professor.