Recommender Frustrations...

[The Grand Taco]

Hey guys,

I hope your applications are going smoothly! I submitted all of mine at the beginning of the month so that during the holidays I'd be able to relax- however, there is one thing standing in between me and complete tranquility: one letter of recommendation.

The guy who I asked to write my letter of recommendation is famous in nanoscience, and I aced a thermodynamics course I took with him. I talked to him fairly often whenever I took his course, so I thought he'd be a good candidate for a letter. However, the one fault of his is that he can be difficult to get a hold of. Despite this, I sent him an email in early November and asked if he'd be willing to write me a letter for graduate school, and he responded quickly saying that he would.

Needless to say, after about a month of waiting, I sent him a reminder email about my letters and didn't get a response. I sent him a couple more reminders over the next week and tried to find him at his office, but was unable to solicit a response from him. My first wave of applications was due December 15th, and on about December 11th I still hadn't heard from him. Out of frustration, I frantically contacted my undergraduate adviser and explained the situation. She said that if I still hadn't heard from him in the next couple days, she'd be willing to write me a letter in his place. I sent him one last email, asking him to respond so that I know whether or not I needed to ask for a different recommendation, and he responded to that one saying that they would be done that night. The following morning, he had submitted my recommendation for the NDSEG, but none of the graduate school recommendations. I emailed him again asking for his progress on the grad school recommendations, and he said they would be done the following day. I waited, and he missed the deadline for the December 15th schools. I've sent him a few more emails over the last several days trying to get a hold of him as well tried to call him, but I've failed to get a hold of him.

I know he's willing to help me (especially since he submitted the NDSEG recommendation), but I don't know how much more I can take of his sporadic responses, especially since there are deadlines past and deadlines approaching. Do you think it's time for me to give up on this professor and ask for the more reliable one to write my letter on such short notice? Anybody else in the same shoes as me? Sorry about the long post, but I didn't imagine that this would be this frustrating!

[Rachel B]

I'm having a similar problem, with the small exception that she's my advisor! Both of my other letter writers are very organized and very on top of things. Unfortunately thats not the case with my advisor/third recommender. I asked her back in August if she would be willing to write me a recommendation for a Jan. 3 deadline, which she said she would be glad to, but only after she was done teaching in November. Well November came and went and I contacted her again earlier this month with no response. A week later I emailed her again, no response. Two days before break I was finally able to catch her in her office to check on the progress. Although I had given her all the information, my CV, and my SoP, she still hadn't looked at anything!

She did say she would do it over break, but now I'm seriously worried she will forget. She's an amazing, brilliant professor and I've had her in over five different classes and I've done independent research with her. She's been my advisor since my freshman year as well. Her major downfall is that she is super disorganized and I'm seriously freaking out. It's too late in the game to ask anyone else and I know if she committed just an hour or two, she could write me a very strong recommendation. I'm not sure what to do. I'm home now, so it's not like I can visit her office until after break (ie: after the deadline).

[Starlajane]

Hey guys,

I hope your applications are going smoothly! I submitted all of mine at the beginning of the month so that during the holidays I'd be able to relax- however, there is one thing standing in between me and complete tranquility: one letter of recommendation.

The guy who I asked to write my letter of recommendation is famous in nanoscience, and I aced a thermodynamics course I took with him. I talked to him fairly often whenever I took his course, so I thought he'd be a good candidate for a letter. However, the one fault of his is that he can be difficult to get a hold of. Despite this, I sent him an email in early November and asked if he'd be willing to write me a letter for graduate school, and he responded quickly saying that he would.

Needless to say, after about a month of waiting, I sent him a reminder email about my letters and didn't get a response. I sent him a couple more reminders over the next week and tried to find him at his office, but was unable to solicit a response from him. My first wave of applications was due December 15th, and on about December 11th I still hadn't heard from him. Out of frustration, I frantically contacted my undergraduate adviser and explained the situation. She said that if I still hadn't heard from him in the next couple days, she'd be willing to write me a letter in his place. I sent him one last email, asking him to respond so that I know whether or not I needed to ask for a different recommendation, and he responded to that one saying that they would be done that night. The following morning, he had submitted my recommendation for the NDSEG, but none of the graduate school recommendations. I emailed him again asking for his progress on the grad school recommendations, and he said they would be done the following day. I waited, and he missed the deadline for the December 15th schools. I've sent him a few more emails over the last several days trying to get a hold of him as well tried to call him, but I've failed to get a hold of him.

I know he's willing to help me (especially since he submitted the NDSEG recommendation), but I don't know how much more I can take of his sporadic responses, especially since there are deadlines past and deadlines approaching. Do you think it's time for me to give up on this professor and ask for the more reliable one to write my letter on such short notice? Anybody else in the same shoes as me? Sorry about the long post, but I didn't imagine that this would be this frustrating!

I am in the same predicament. I applied to two programs with a December 15th deadline and my third (and strongest) recommender missed the deadline for both recs. I gave her early notice (November), stopped by her office, gave her a thank you gift, sent her numerous e-mails and requests/reminders but she still hasn't submitted those two recs. She submitted recs for other programs to which I applied--by the deadline--so I have no idea what is going on.

I called one of the programs to which I am applying and, fortunately, they have a grace period. However, I am convinced that the recs just aren't going to be done by this particular prof at all. So, I am going to ask another prof to help me out after break; I have reconciled the fact that the matter is simply unresolveable over the holiday. The recs will be submitted late and probably won't be as strong but a late rec is better than no rec at all.

I am fairly certain that the other program--which is one of the most competitive in the country for my field--simply isn't going to consider my application because of the late recs. Even if the first program does still consider my app, not having my recs in on time--even when it isn't my fault--might be just the excuse an adcom needs to toss my app or to choose another candidate over me.

Fortunately, most programs tell you that they don't fault you for documents that are out of your control. However, I always wonder if that's true and if my apps will still be considered, or if this isn't my professor's subtle way of indicating that I am not a strong/suitable candidate for these particular programs. Regardless, this seems to happen a lot.