How to stay on track with letter of recommendation writers?

[Brown_Bear]

I am applying to 14 or 15 places, and have 3 writers.

One of these writers is extremely prompt about submitting their letters into my applications, and the other two, I have not yet had a single letter submitted. I don't want to grow overly anxious, but how might I confront them and ask them about their progress towards my letters? How frequently should I check in with them? What is the best way for me to phrase that I want them to get started on writing them without coming off as overly aggressive? Any tactics about this? I certainly want my applications complete, which includes the LOR.

 

[grace2137]

I’m curious to hear other people’s responses about the etiquette with this — this is my first cycle, so my guess is as good as yours.

 But, there are still a few weeks before Dec 1st which is the earliest deadline yeah? I’m honestly not obsessively checking to see whether anyone has submitted letters and am erring on the side of trusting that my professors will get it turned in. I’ve heard there is generally a small grace period after the deadline for letter writers as well. 
 

To be fair, I do see two of my three frequently for class since I’m still in undergrad and we chat about how things are going, so I know it’s on their minds. My third recommender was a professor from a previous semester and he openly encouraged me to send him reminders if things aren’t turned in so that set a precedent with him.
But, since thanksgiving is so close up on the December 1st deadline, I will probably shoot an email about a week in advance of that if things aren’t turned in because I know that would make it easy to forget. Maybe I’m too laid back  

[Warelin]

13 minutes ago, grace2137 said:

I’m curious to hear other people’s responses about the etiquette with this — this is my first cycle, so my guess is as good as yours.

 But, there are still a few weeks before Dec 1st which is the earliest deadline yeah? I’m honestly not obsessively checking to see whether anyone has submitted letters and am erring on the side of trusting that my professors will get it turned in. I’ve heard there is generally a small grace period after the deadline for letter writers as well.

Universities are aware that professors have busy schedules. Some of the admissions committee may even be writing recommendation for their own students. As such, most universities do grant grace periods. Some programs will even reach out to you if they're missing a letter.

What I found was helpful was providing the professors a list of schools I was applying to. I wrote them each a personal e-mail. This helped them to know how many schools to expect and which schools they'd be writing letters for. I also noted who had submitted what to each school in an excel file.

 

[cupidcello]

49 minutes ago, Hasspurple said:

I am applying to 14 or 15 places, and have 3 writers.

One of these writers is extremely prompt about submitting their letters into my applications, and the other two, I have not yet had a single letter submitted. I don't want to grow overly anxious, but how might I confront them and ask them about their progress towards my letters? How frequently should I check in with them? What is the best way for me to phrase that I want them to get started on writing them without coming off as overly aggressive? Any tactics about this? I certainly want my applications complete, which includes the LOR.

 

Considering your situation (applying to 14/15 places), I would, personally, send a kind reminder 2 weeks before the Dec 1st deadline via e-mail.  I'm saying 2 weeks because of Thanksgiving/holiday season (assuming your recommenders are from the States) and also, should they forget about your LOR, they have enough time to craft a good one.  Depending on where you apply to, some schools may just want a letter, and other schools may have their own unique template for LORs.  Ergo, you'll want your letter writers to have the time to submit to every school.

Since you're applying to many schools--and I'm not sure if you've already done this--but I would send an Excel/spreadsheet of: the schools you are applying to, their application deadline dates, the method of how the LOR is supposed to be submitted (electronic, snail-mail), and anything else that particular school needs from them (whatever that may be).  This will help them keep track of your program list.

Good luck!

[WildeThing]

I sent a recap email with all the schools and their deadlines to help with tracking. It was to help but also an excuse to see where they were in the process. My letter writers were generally quite good about telling me when they would submit.

Edited November 10, 2019 by WildeThing

[NowMoreSerious]

If any of your writers have already submitted their letters I'd be shocked. As somebody who has written many rec letters (though not for grad schools, but for scholarships, fellowships, etc) I usually don't start seriously writing until the week before no matter when they asked me. I always ask my students, though, to send me a reminder email about 2-3 days before.