How to remind a professor to upload his letter after it's late

[prospektor]

One of my letter writers was supposed to upload his letter of recommendation for USC on 12/01, but now it's been 10 days and he still hasn't uploaded it. I've sent a reminder email, and he replied saying that he'll do it soon, but he ended up submitting letters to the schools due 12/15, and still neglected USC. I since then have sent a second and third reminder, both of which he hasn't responded to yet. Is he going to hate me if I keep pestering him? How do I remind him that he forgot to upload one of the letters?

I've already asked USC, and they said that although they will not penalize my application, they have started viewing applications on 12/02, and would want letters in ASAP. Since USC is my top choice, this is giving me serious anxiety and I don't know what to do...

[Sigaba]

49 minutes ago, prospektor said:

One of my letter writers was supposed to upload his letter of recommendation for USC on 12/01, but now it's been 10 days and he still hasn't uploaded it. I've sent a reminder email, and he replied saying that he'll do it soon, but he ended up submitting letters to the schools due 12/15, and still neglected USC. I since then have sent a second and third reminder, both of which he hasn't responded to yet. Is he going to hate me if I keep pestering him? How do I remind him that he forgot to upload one of the letters?

I've already asked USC, and they said that although they will not penalize my application, they have started viewing applications on 12/02, and would want letters in ASAP. Since USC is my top choice, this is giving me serious anxiety and I don't know what to do...

I am sorry that you're in this situation. Unfortunately, your experience is far from unique. Season after season and across multiple disciplines, LoR writers are late meeting their commitments and uncommunicative.

In the strongest possible terms, I urge you not to contact the professor again about the outstanding LoR. You both know that he knows that it is late.. What ever he gets out of the LoR being late, your reminders increase the pay off from a dynamic that has very little to do with you.

I recommend that you consider lining up an alternative LoR writer and checking to see if USC would accept it. Now, the order which you do the two tasks is going to take careful thought.The worst case scenario is that the alternative letter is not as beneficial to your application, it arrives moments before the late professor finally hits "send" on his, and USC reads the alternative AND the late professor gets wind of your back up plan and takes offense.

Another alternative is just to let things beyond your control remain beyond your control. Trust that the late letter will eventually get there and USC gives your application the attention it deserves. This tactic will work out all right if you get into USC one way or another or end up in another program that brings out the best in you, but it will be a lot of nail biting until you know.

What ever does happen, please come back to this thread and let us know what happened and share any "lessons learned."

 

[prospektor]

On 12/10/2019 at 12:23 PM, Sigaba said:

I am sorry that you're in this situation. Unfortunately, your experience is far from unique. Season after season and across multiple disciplines, LoR writers are late meeting their commitments and uncommunicative.

In the strongest possible terms, I urge you not to contact the professor again about the outstanding LoR. You both know that he knows that it is late.. What ever he gets out of the LoR being late, your reminders increase the pay off from a dynamic that has very little to do with you.

I recommend that you consider lining up an alternative LoR writer and checking to see if USC would accept it. Now, the order which you do the two tasks is going to take careful thought.The worst case scenario is that the alternative letter is not as beneficial to your application, it arrives moments before the late professor finally hits "send" on his, and USC reads the alternative AND the late professor gets wind of your back up plan and takes offense.

Another alternative is just to let things beyond your control remain beyond your control. Trust that the late letter will eventually get there and USC gives your application the attention it deserves. This tactic will work out all right if you get into USC one way or another or end up in another program that brings out the best in you, but it will be a lot of nail biting until you know.

What ever does happen, please come back to this thread and let us know what happened and share any "lessons learned."

 

Thanks for all the advice, and an update: he finally uploaded my letter! Fingers crossed that he won't be as unresponsive when the future deadlines come...

I'm not sure there if there are any "lessons learned" from this experience, other than try to ask letters from local professors if possible. This professor went to teach at another school, and during the first stages of emailing him, there was on average a 10-day gap before he replied. With professors on campus, at least you could go look for them in their offices...much less risk of being ghosted.