Finding out your recommenders never sent in recommendations to some schools

[quick1]

I got another rejection today and while i kind of expected it from this particular school I was quite upset to discover upon further inspection that 2 of my 3 recommenders never sent in their recommendations to the school.

It was electronic notification sent direct to their email direct from the school to submit a recommendation online and two didn't bother to do it. I followed up with them before the deadline and they both said "All done." And later I find out it wasn't "all done."

Really?

I mean granted I don't know how much it would have helped my odds of getting an interview at said school (with the one recommender being an alumni and former professor in the same program I was applying to and she didn't turn it in!) but still that's harsh, unprofessional, and lazy. I don't care how busy a professor is, you don't say it's all done when it's not. And if the student follows up with you double check to make sure you took care of it esp. when the student is saying "the following schools still need your letter."

[CarlieE]

That really sucks.. I was paranoid about my applications and checked the status of them religiously..

Unfortunately, I think that we forget professors are still human and fallible in all the ways that humans are. That's not to say that this sort of behavior should be excused. As students and applicants, sometimes we just have to NAG NAG NAG until it gets done and if that's what it takes, then perhaps the end result makes the rudeness of nagging worth it. ...Does that make sense?

If it helps, I needed 3 or 4 recommenders per school I applied to.. I ended up asking/getting 6. I asked for more than I needed just to avoid the sort of situation you found yourself in. I was lucky though - my professors were all very professional and got my LORs in on time. If you have time, find more professional references.

[felicidad]

Every program that I applied to had a way to check receipt of recommendations online. Did you check after they said they sent it?

I checked my applications even after my recommenders said they had sent in all recommendations and found two missing. Even if they have the best intentions, recommenders can make a mistake or get confused.

[logpr]

Hi!! The schools I applied to all had options to verify if the recommenders had sent the letters. In some cases, I received an automatic email response confirming their submission.

Sorry for such a bad experience. I wish you the best for the remaining applications.

[Helpplease123]

I got another rejection today and while i kind of expected it from this particular school I was quite upset to discover upon further inspection that 2 of my 3 recommenders never sent in their recommendations to the school.

It was electronic notification sent direct to their email direct from the school to submit a recommendation online and two didn't bother to do it. I followed up with them before the deadline and they both said "All done." And later I find out it wasn't "all done."

Really?

I mean granted I don't know how much it would have helped my odds of getting an interview at said school (with the one recommender being an alumni and former professor in the same program I was applying to and she didn't turn it in!) but still that's harsh, unprofessional, and lazy. I don't care how busy a professor is, you don't say it's all done when it's not. And if the student follows up with you double check to make sure you took care of it esp. when the student is saying "the following schools still need your letter."

Where you not able to follow up with the school that they had received them? I would suggest your very quickly check this with your remaining school - your app will automatically get tossed if it isn't deemed complete.