Letter of recommendation for studying in China?

[ms.foo]

Hi all. I've been contemplating studying Chinese in Beijing for several years now, and my nothing-to-lose circumstances have me thinking I might actually take the plunge, come Winter/Spring 2010.

After reading these forums for years, I think I'll probably go with BNU starting Feb 2010. I've read the application instructions and it appears they need a "letter of recommendation from past/present teacher." I find this a little intimidating, and frankly if I felt I had all sorts of people willing to write rec letters, I would probably just go to grad school instead of drifting aimlessly overseas

I studied Chinese for 5 semesters in university, but that was five years ago at a huge school, so those instructors are out of the question. For the past year, I've been taking political science courses at the state university where I'm living now. Could I get my professor there to write a letter, even though it's a completely different discipline? Otherwise, I have a language exchange partner with whom I practice reading and speaking, usually from a university level text book. However, she's not an academic of any sort and doesn't even have a BA yet.

What should I do about this? It seems a lot of people here have started language courses in China from outside the ivory tower, and of course elementary level students wouldn't typically have a formal Chinese teacher to recommend them. So how do they do it?

I don't have the money to spend on classes here, just for the sake of getting a recommendation so I can spend even more money studying in China.

Thanks in advance

[evasiege]

If you can't find a professor, just find someone who knows you well enough to write a good recommendation. Previous employer, co-worker, whatever. I majored in Political Science and I asked one of my professors for one.

"I find this a little intimidating, and frankly if I felt I had all sorts of people willing to write rec letters, I would probably just go to grad school instead of drifting aimlessly overseas"

I had/have access to numerous professors for recommendations and even a chance to get my MBA for free, but I'd rather go to China for language learning for a year. There is nothing wrong with drifting aimlessly if you are learning in the process.

[jbradfor]

I studied Chinese for 5 semesters in university, but that was five years ago at a huge school, so those instructors are out of the question.

You might want to try. They might still remember you. I've had faculty / teachers remember me more than 5 years later. [Which I'm not sure is a good thing.]