I'm a senior graduating in May 2011, and I plan to apply to English PHD programs during the 2011 cycle to ideally begin in Fall 2012. (It sounds so far-off!).
What should I do to stay in contact with my recommenders before and after I graduate this spring? What do students normally do to maintain academic connections over solely e-mail? Would it be a good idea to ask them to write general (not school specific) recommendations to be filed through the campus credentialing service before I leave campus as a back-up?
For whatever reason, I was talking with an advisor today and their reaction to this plan was that it would be really difficult for me or something (getting recommendations after I'd graduated). Perhaps this is in light of the fact that I could be applying now but I thought it would be best to take the year break in between for various reasons, but people keep reacting to this with "Why don't you just apply now if you know that's what you want to do," which makes me think twice about the decision (although there's not much I can do to change it now).
