wtf...Dear Dr. ____, you forgot one school!!!

[TexasGuy]

how do you NICELY tell a professor that he forgot to submit a letter of recommendation for one school

[felicidad]

Does the recommender still have time to remedy the mistake? If not, then don't bother.

If so, I had the same problem. My professor tried to submit six recommendations on the same night and two of them slipped through the cracks. I just sent an e-mail saying basically "The system is still reporting that your recommendation is not in. Would you mind trying to submit it again? If it still doesn't register, I will call the help line to find out what is going on."

That way you're blaming an external factor and not putting them on the spot, but still making them aware of the problem.

[PhDreams]

Does the recommender still have time to remedy the mistake? If not, then don't bother.

If so, I had the same problem. My professor tried to submit six recommendations on the same night and two of them slipped through the cracks. I just sent an e-mail saying basically "The system is still reporting that your recommendation is not in. Would you mind trying to submit it again? If it still doesn't register, I will call the help line to find out what is going on."

That way you're blaming an external factor and not putting them on the spot, but still making them aware of the problem.

FYI I plagiarized your letter (lol) , but added "I apologize for the inconvenience." It was the perfect response to address the situation. Thanks!!!

[TexasGuy]

.but i think he completely forgot about the school....he emailed me and told me the 5 schools he submitted letters to and seems to have completely forgotten about the 6th school.... should i still lie and make it seem like it was a problem with the system at "University of 6thschool"?

[felicidad]

.but i think he completely forgot about the school....he emailed me and told me the 5 schools he submitted letters to and seems to have completely forgotten about the 6th school.... should i still lie and make it seem like it was a problem with the system at "University of 6thschool"?

It's not a lie. You're not saying there is something wrong with the system. You are simply asking that he submit his recommendation without outright accusing him of dropping the ball. I just think it sounds more polite to say, "Perhaps you already sent this and for some reason it's not showing up in the system" than "You didn't send one of my letters." It also has the added bonus of making it clear that the letter has not been submitted in case, like in my situation, the professor thought that they had submitted all the letters.

[TexasGuy]

ahh cool...i get it