shadowclaw

When I got a similar e-mail from PSU just before Christmas, I had the same reaction. The e-mail I used for all my apps doesn't get that much e-mail, and I have all my e-mails sent to my phone. So I have a heart attack every day or so when I get some stupid e-mail unrelated to grad school, and then get really mad when I see what it is.

You could ask a good friend to write it for you. As long they are familiar with your work and skills (and know how to write well), they could probably come up with a good letter, and it won't sound like you.

Well, I would assume that the letters they write for each school will be similar, so they won't have to start each letter from scratch (or at least that's what my recommenders have told me). So asking them if they could get the others in soon shouldn't been a hassle to them. I think the best phrasing would be something like, "School X and Y have rolling admissions and I'd like my application to be considered as early as possible. If you have the time, do you think you could work on the recommendations for those schools now rather than close to the deadline?"

Yes, sometimes professors just flake out! It's not necessarily that they don't want to write the letter, but they get busy wit things and end up forgetting. Last year, one of the professors at my school never got around to writing his letter for a student, and coincidentally, she didn't get accepted anywhere. I don't know if she found a replacement or if she just went without. I wonder if she had been more agressive and nagged him about, if she would have got it. I had to do a lot of nagging myself to get my internship credits finalized with him. One of my own recommenders told me to nag him to make sure he didn't forget, because he knew he would. So I did just that. I e-mailed him, I reminded him after class, I popped my head into his office periodically, and I even text messaged him about it once... and he really appreciated the reminders.

I didn't really have issues with my recommenders (although one really waited until the last minute for the Dec 1st deadlines), but there is one professor at my school who I occasionally need to get things signed by or talk to about (his is my curriculum coordinator), but he rarely replies to emails and is often not in his office during his posted office hours. What do I do? I send him lots of gentle reminders via e-mail that I need to see him (usually they are light-hearted and I even throw in a dash of humor at times), and I pop by his office outside of office hours to see if I can grab him for a minute. Since it's break and you can't go to their office, the best you can do for now is e-mail and then go visit when school is back in session. Has your professor already agreed to write a letter for you, or is that what you are trying to contact them about? If they already agreed, then by all means, I would say flood their inbox with friendly reminders. If you are asking for a recommendation in the e-mail, then you are in a very sticky situation and being a pest will probably not help you and you might want to look elsewhere for a recommender as a backup plan (such as an employer or another professor).

Hey, this thread is for me! I have a rather unusual academic history. I've been to four undergraduate institutions of varying sizes and reputations, and I have transferred back and forth between them several times, and changed my majors more times than I dare mention (hint: the number can't be counted on both hands put together). At the school I am graduating from, my GPA is pretty good (right now, I'm at a 3.52), my GPA in my major in awesome (3.8). I have had a great 2 and a half years as a biology major, but prior to that, I was all over the place (both physically and academically). There were semesters that I had a 4.0, and there were semesters that I completely crashed and burned. I computed my overall GPA across all schools when filling out my apps, and came up with a 2.65. The reason for all this nonsense is that I had a lot of personal issues and anxiety problems, and rather than try to solve the problems and get on with life, I just kind of floundered and changed majors whenever I really screwed up. The good news is that I was never a science major during all of this, so all of my poor grades are in completely unrelated courses. I think that I have certainly proven that I can handle the rigors of scientific study during the past 2.5 years, and my professors have told me that graduate schools will put a lot more weight on my great science grades than on my mediocre IT and Literature grades. I hope they're right. I would feel better about my apps if I did stellar on my GRE, but my quantitative score was a little low (64th percentile), which is weird because I really am quite good at math. However, I do feel good about the rest of my application - the SOP and LOR, plus my CV/resume show some research experience, along with some field work. I figure that if I can't get into any PhD programs, I have a good shot at getting into a Biology M.S. program close to home at a state school, which I am still debating on applying to. The deadline isn't until April or May, and I was thinking why waste money on the application fees and sending GRE scores if I'm accepted to a PhD program, but I've been getting really nervous about my chances of getting in!

Not exactly losing my mind, but starting to obsess a little. I saw from the results that someone already got an interview invite to the EEPB program at Washington University in St. Louis around Dec 20th... I keep telling myself that they must have put in their application early and that's why I haven't heard from them, but that's just wishful thinking. I only had two Dec 1st apps (WUSTL and Cornell), and one Dec 15th (Syracuse). The rest are still upcoming. Although I did get an e-mail from PSU saying my application was forwarded to the admissions committee for review, so maybe I'll hear something a little sooner on that one. Trying to keep calm, though. Following the results, if I'm going to hear something from most of my schools, I probably won't until late Jan/early Feb.

It's nice to see other people that have the same feelings as I have! If I didn't get in anywhere, I would certainly feel like a failure, but that's nothing compared to the embarassment of telling my recommenders I didn't get in anywhere, especially my adviser! When I first started my undergrad program, my plan was to get a good internship and then find a job after graduation. However, my adviser really pushed for me to think about grad school (he told me I was too smart not to go) and he's the one who really got me excited about the idea, and he was pretty excited about it, too. It would be terrible to tell him that I wasn't that smart after all.

@ diamedic I applied to the Ecology (PhD) program at PSU, EEB (PhD) at Cornell, and Environmental Science (MS) at Drexel.

Undergrad Institution: small private school Major(s): Environmental Biology Minor(s): Chemistry, Mathematics GPA in Major: 3.8 Overall GPA: At my current school, 3.5, but overall (made several transfers and major changes), 2.65 (I was a screw up in my early college years) Position in Class: Probably top 15% Type of Student: Domestic, female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 155 (64%) V: 160 (83%) W: 4.5 (73%) B: Research Experience: One semester-long research project on invasive plants, plus my senior project on allelopathy. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List and President's List, plus I was the winner of our first annual Chemistry Lab Skills Olympiad Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor in Chemistry, Biology, Algebra, and Statistics; Field assistant for a project for the PA Fish Commission Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Got an A in almost every science and math course I've taken, and nothing less than a B Special Bonus Points: I'm certain all of my recommenders gushed about my ability to write well, plus I think my SOP also reflects this. One of my recommenders isn't exactly famous, but is well known for birding and had received some environmental awards. He also seems to know a lot of people at a lot of different schools. Also, I've gotten some very positive responses from potential advisers at a few schools. Hopefully that helps. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: The above mentioned recommender once told me (and my entire class) that I can write better than any of the faculty in our science department (including himself), so if he happened to mention that in his letter, I think that would really work in my favor. Also, my math minor (and my good grades in math) should overshadow my slightly low Quantitative score Applying to Where: Penn State Pittsburgh Cornell Syracuse Washington U in St. Louis Drexel