Online Profs

[staciii]

I took online classes this summer and received an A on all papers written for his class. I had go have him send an email about one of my essays for a writing portfolio requirement and he said many good things. Would it be ok to ask this prof for a letter of recommendation?

[Burhop]

For recommendations, the best are, ranked (if they actually know you)

Renowned professor
Full Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Supervisor of a good job you've held who has a related background/holds a JD or LLM or graduate degree
Senior Lecturer
Visiting Lecturer of some importance
Lecturer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Graduate student TA (even if they now have their degree)

...without knowing the title of the person who taught the online class, it's hard to say. If it's someone without a PhD or title, it probably won't carry much weight, but if you haven't got anyone else, it shouldn't hurt.

That's the thing with recommendations - they rarely help, but can hurt. One bad recommendation from anyone hurts more than three glowing recommendations help - because most recommendations are usually pretty glowing, or at least generically positive. They aren't what will differentiate you as an applicant, except in the rarest of cases. - Dani

[justanothersucker]

You can put 4 lor's on your lsdas file. Might as well make one a prof.

Even if he never met you, he read your papers, as long as his letter is about your work(and not what you look or smell like) it's legit. There is no need for it to even say that it was an online class in the letter.

[fortook]

Have you ever heard of anyone getting a bad recommendation?  I mean saying no or avoiding the person asking is preferable to doing something so, well, cold. That is so harsh a thing to do.  Even some people I really dislike don't deserve that.  A prof would have to have a lot of hate in them to do such a thing.