thetons8785

Hi there @CoffeeFueledAnxiety and @I_mix! Sorry it took so long to get back. I thought I'd get a notification on comments, but didn't seem to. Thanks to you both for the feedback. Like you said CoffeeFueledAnxiety, the online reviews definitely freaked me out a bit, and their customer service was shite. There were a few hoops I would have had to jump through to get my study abroad transcript since it was almost 10 years ago that I did it... So before I dove deep I called Penn GSE's admissions office to see if they could waive the course-by-course eval requirement for my study abroad coursework since it only converted into 4 courses total at my home univeristy, and they very generously did. I ended up getting my money back by filing a complaint with my credit card company... Hopefully I won't have to deal with WES in the future, but if I do I know that they aren't as big of scammers as all the terrible reviews the internet birthed! Thanks guys!

Okay, So I'm applying for UPenn GSE. In order to apply, I have to get a course-by-course evaluation for my study abroad transcript from a service provider on the NACES list. So I pour over the list, each one of the companies, and finally decide to go with WES. 1. HGSE also recommends WES for similar situations (if offered admission) 2. Penn GSE themselves supports them through NACES. 3. They're website looks legit (except the fact that you have to pay to even talk to them-- that was a red flag, but some legit companies do that) All of that equals pretty reputable service to me. Sooooo... I pay for the service, a whomping $249; then find an extraneous charge for 2 extra services: 1 extra report + shipping to be sent to my house (not something I selected in checkout); learn that sending reports to personal addresses violates their policy (like they violated their OWN policy!); email specific questions; get generic answers; call three times; get a recording that says WES isn't taking calls from individual applicants AT ALL, and tells you to write an email (like wtf); I call again, and connect through to the business line to see if they're taking business calls; they do; I leave a message and contact info (hoping for something); nothing- no response. Oh yeah, and drafted an email in French (which I haven't spoken in years). Then, belatedly, I found this, this, this and more. So after all this I've sent a final two emails, one of which notifies them I will be contacting the BBB if they don't respond promptly, appropriately, and authentically (They are a BBB member). I don't think they're gonna do anything. My one last hope is calling this number or someone from this list of U.S. representatives (it's really indirect, but I mean what else is there to do). After that I'm lost. Like I have no idea what to do. The list of NACES service providers was exhaustive, but I couldn't find anyone I could trust more than WES, and this is what happened. Has anyone ever successfully, and happily (considering the circumstances) used a course-by-course evaluation services from one of the companies on the NACES list? Is anyone applying to / already applied to Penn GSE for a M.S.Ed who also has to do an evaluation like this? Any insight would be super appreciated. I'm at the end of my rope here. Thanks in advance!

Wow way to pump the ego kb6! You totally hit the nail on the head with how freaked out all of us are-- and by all, I mostly mean myself, and probably lots of others. Thanks for the raw insight!

Update: The email to Professor A helped a lot. We both cleared the air, and she has agreed to write my letter of recommendation! So relieved. Thanks for the feedback (though I know I should've come to these conclusions myself)!

Most definitely @fuzzylogician! I drafted an email, stepped back, and added money paid for quality of work done. This is what the final draft became: Dear Professor A, I hope you are well. Throughout my recent RA position with you, I thought I was working up to your expectations, and only realized after your email that you felt overcharged for the quality of work I did. I want you to know again that I genuinely misunderstood what time I would be paid for, and didn’t realize the significance of getting paid $X/hour. I would never intentionally overcharge you. I'm unsure of whether you are still comfortable with writing a letter of recommendation for me, but at the very least, I hope we can maintain a good relationship. Respectfully,

Just for a bit of background, in Professor As main response she noted that she had to explain legal terminology and the case, and moreover that she had to spend more time after our meetings to continue working on parts of her paper as reasons for why she was surprised about the amount I quoted her. It all seems to revolve around the matter of money paid for the work.

@rising_star and @fuzzylogician touché on the advice to repair the relationship. I typically never leave ends undone, but I suppose I was just so confused at the end that I second guessed myself? That, and I've never been in this kind of situation with such an important person before...it really threw me for a loop. All said, I'm drafting the email today. Thanks for the advice! My other recommender would be my French professor from uni. All 4-5 classes I took with her were small, she interviewed me when I opted out of 4 upper division French classes, wrote a letter of rec for me way back, and she gave me references tools for an etymology podcast I made with a friend. A handful of important classes I did well in and those exchanges built up our relationship. Her letter would boost my application bc it would show the language skills I honed before entering the program (before graduation students have to pass exams in a second language). But my skills have sunk from advanced to conversational. And that might make it hard for her to write the rec...

Hi there! So I'm in a bit of a conundrum, and would like to hear your ideas for solutions. I'm aiming to apply to JHU's SAIS MA by Nov. 1st for a fall 2017 entrance (I know-- I want that early deadline advantage!) I need two letters of rec, and at least one from a professor. In February of this year, a professor who I was a research assistant for as an undergrad, reached out to me to help her edit her trade dispute assessment paper to make it more agreeable and clarify complex ideas in preparation for publication at an American law journal. My job was basically to provide an educated layman's perspective on her paper. Having been her research assistant in the past, I assume she believed me credible enough to help her edit her paper. I was stoked, to say the least. Due to some complications on her end, the research assistantship was put on hold for a few months. In July--after those issues were resolved-- we reconnected to start the work again. The work went fine. Or so I thought. I prepped for each Skype date (I'm living abroad and she's stateside), we discussed and made changes levelheadedly, and it continued this way for the length of the assistantship--which was to my disbelief only a few days. In exchange for helping her, she agreed to write my letter of rec, and pay $10/hour-- above the going rate for RA compensation. In the end, she asked me for a quote on the amount she owed me. I gave her the quote--which was based on my preparation time, Skype time, and brief work done in February. I ended with a humble call to action for the letter of rec. My quote drew a sour response from her-- to the point where, out of left field, she expressed harbored frustration with the work I did, refused to acknowledge any work done in February, and discussion ultimately ended with me apologizing for misunderstanding the time I would be compensated for, and laconic, single-noted responses from her. However, in her final email, she was confusingly cordial. Short, but cordial. But no mention of the letter of rec. As an alternative recommender, I've thought to contact my French professor-- who I took a majority of my upper-division French classes with, and who has written a letter of rec for me in the past-- but it's been about 3 years since I last contacted her, and 7 years since I studied under her... and honestly my Korean is probably better than my French at this point. My questions: Is it worth trying to repair the relationship with Professor A (either for a letter of rec or just for the sake of not burning bridges)? Can a recommendation from a professor from so long ago really strengthen my application? If so, how? Thanks in advance for your insight!