Would it be too pushy of me to send reminder emails?

[gradstudent84]

So I stopped by my recommenders' offices today just to give thank you notes and a small gift for my appreciation and thanks for teaching as well as writing me letters.

I asked them both if they had any questions about the letters and one said that she had none and she will definitely let me know if she does, and the other said he'd already sent out a couple. I checked when I got home and he didn't submit any yet, so I am thinking he confused me with someone else.

Would it be too pushy of me to send friendly reminder emails later this month before the holidays? a couple of my top choices have deadlines in the first week of January and I think its a good idea to do so, but I already saw them today...I didn't want to seem too aggressive.

[eklavya]

i don't think it'd be pushy at all. it's a very good idea to keep in regular contact with the profs and exchange the updates on your applications with them. i think they would appreciate you reminding them of the upcoming deadlines and when the letters need to reach by. i actually recommend updating/reminding them every week or so, but make sure you do this on the day when their teaching load is low. for example, most profs in my school teach MWF and have the other two days sorta "off". so, reminding them on monday evening or tuesday morning is a good idea.

[gradstudent84]

Thank you. Next week is finals week and I don't want to email on the week of Christmas so I am thinking of doing it sometime next week or the week after.

[emmm]

One of my professors even commented to me that the reminder emails were very helpful, as it saved her from having to keep track of the various due dates.

[modernity]

Yes, as long as you don't go overboard (ie one every other day with increasingly demanding language or something like that) reminder emails are helpful for professors and are absolutely essential for your peace of mind.

[gradstudent84]

Thanks everyone....

I took the GRE last night (yes, on a Sunday night), which is also ONE DAY before finals...I just finished my first final this morning...so I'm pretty tense at the moment.

I called one of my programs and they did not receive anything from my recommenders yet, so this freaked me out for like 5 minutes but then I reminded myself I will be sending them reminders so I felt better.

I wish this process were over. i've applied and gotten into grad programs before but I don't remember ever feeling this anxious and tense then.

[Medievalmaniac]

What would you do in the case that your recommenders had sent letters in to all of the programs you applied to except for one? I'm missing one recommendation, but the professor in question submitted the other two, both on the same day. I'm wondering if he missed the notification on the third one, is writing a different rec for the third one, or thinks he sent the third one and there was some sort of SNAFU electronically.

I don't want to email the program and harass them, since it is an applyyourself application and they'll likely just tell me "The program does it automatically so if he sent it it should be noted as such". But then, if he sent and it didn't go through, there's a problem with the system they might need to address - and he would still need to re-send.

But either way, I feel kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place. Should I just wait a bit and see if it goes through....? what would you do?

As far as I know, subject test scores aside (and those are mailed out the 24th) this is the last piece I need in order for all of my applications to be complete and, as you can imagine, I am quite eager for this to be over and done with.

Thanks for any suggestions or comments on this matter.

[LJK]

What would you do in the case that your recommenders had sent letters in to all of the programs you applied to except for one? I'm missing one recommendation, but the professor in question submitted the other two, both on the same day. I'm wondering if he missed the notification on the third one, is writing a different rec for the third one, or thinks he sent the third one and there was some sort of SNAFU electronically.

I don't want to email the program and harass them, since it is an applyyourself application and they'll likely just tell me "The program does it automatically so if he sent it it should be noted as such". But then, if he sent and it didn't go through, there's a problem with the system they might need to address - and he would still need to re-send.

But either way, I feel kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place. Should I just wait a bit and see if it goes through....? what would you do?

As far as I know, subject test scores aside (and those are mailed out the 24th) this is the last piece I need in order for all of my applications to be complete and, as you can imagine, I am quite eager for this to be over and done with.

Thanks for any suggestions or comments on this matter.

I have a recommender who is doing them piece-meal after the deadlines (gggrrrrr! 1-6 days late on every one so far). So it could be that he is not a do-them-all-in-one-sitting kind of recommender. I don't think it would be rude for you to send an email saying something along the lines of "This isn't due yet, you aren't late, but I got notifications that you sent in the letters for X & Y but not for Z. Is this accurate? I have had other recommenders do all of the forms in one sitting in the past and I just wanted to make sure there was not a software issue with the online form. The deadline for this application is ##/##." plus some personal touches to sound less formal If you are local to the recommender you could casually drop by their office to have the same conversation.

[modernity]

What would you do in the case that your recommenders had sent letters in to all of the programs you applied to except for one? I'm missing one recommendation, but the professor in question submitted the other two, both on the same day. I'm wondering if he missed the notification on the third one, is writing a different rec for the third one, or thinks he sent the third one and there was some sort of SNAFU electronically.

I don't want to email the program and harass them, since it is an applyyourself application and they'll likely just tell me "The program does it automatically so if he sent it it should be noted as such". But then, if he sent and it didn't go through, there's a problem with the system they might need to address - and he would still need to re-send.

But either way, I feel kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place. Should I just wait a bit and see if it goes through....? what would you do?

As far as I know, subject test scores aside (and those are mailed out the 24th) this is the last piece I need in order for all of my applications to be complete and, as you can imagine, I am quite eager for this to be over and done with.

Thanks for any suggestions or comments on this matter.

It might be better to wait until you're closer to the deadline (unless its coming up quickly) but you can send an email saying just what the above poster mentioned. It's okay for you guys to ask your recommenders questions and verify information - it's to be expected if you're serious about your applications that you're going to stay on top of things like this and ask questions. They won't be upset unless you go overboard as I said before.