Are deadlines provided to recommenders when they receive the submission form?

[damiensdogs]

Are deadlines provided to recommenders when they receive the submission form? If not, is it standard practice for applicants to group deadlines together (e.g., provide a 1/1 deadline for actual deadlines ranging from 1/1 to 1/15), or is this considered unethical?

Sorry if this is an uninformed question, just trying to see what is accepted practice. 

[perpetualalligator]

Hey! I had the same question so I did a little digging and found this thread:

One poster mentions that the email from U Penn Annenberg mentions the deadline, in bold red letters, so probably they do? Based on this thread, I would say that telling your recommenders that your applications are due earlier than they actually are is not the best idea, but if you ask them if they could submit it by a certain date that would be fine. Basically just be honest with your recommenders, they probably went through the same process and they understand how stressful it is but at the same time they are doing you a huge favor so it would be wrong to lie. 

I personally decided to email my recommenders reminding them of the deadlines, just to make sure that they had them. I also let them know that some of the schools I am applying to actually say that it is the applicant's responsibility to make sure that recommenders submit their letters before the deadline. I think it depends on the type of relationship you have with your recommenders. Either way, I hope this helped and good luck!

[damiensdogs]

Got it, that's very helpful! Sounds like the best approach is to give the specific dates then and request they submit early, if possible. 

Good luck on your apps!