LoR conundrum

[nandelle]

Hi all,

So I'm in a sticky situation, letter of recommendation-wise...and could use a little bit of advice.

I asked a certain professor I'd had in University to write me a letter. He said that he would be delighted to write, and right around January 1st (my first deadline) he sent me an e-mail letting me know that he'd mailed out the letters. Shortly after, my first two schools indicated that they'd received the letter.

A week and a half ago, I get an e-mail from UC Irvine, indicating that they hadn't received the letter from this prof. I figured, no big deal, administrative or postal mixup, and I e-mail the professor saying "hey, don't know what happened, but would you mind resending this letter?". He answered graciously and said no problem (this was on February 5th).

The next day, I get an e-mail from UBC, saying that they also are missing the letter from this prof. Now I'm beginning to suspect that he only sent letters out to the first two schools and not the rest. I reply to the prof's e-mail (saying he'd send the rec. to Irvine) saying "thank you so much for resending the Irvine letter, oh, and would you also mind resending it to UBC? I got an e-mail from them as well" I never heard back from him.

So today (2/17) I get an e-mail from Irvine, saying that they are STILL missing a letter from this professor. I also sent "can you please check and make sure my LoRs were received?" e-mails to OSU and UBC, who don't have online tracking, and didn't hear back from either one. I don't know what to do - the professor would rather not submit them online (sigh...older professors...), but I have no clue how to handle this. I don't want to bug him, but I REALLY need that LoR to those schools, esp. Irvine, where I've been conditionally admitted (conditional on having all my stuff together!) and UBC, my top choice.

I'd go see him, but I'm on the other side of the country. So should I send him another e-mail (it's been a week since I e-mailed him to ask him to send the letter to UBC), and if not, how long should I wait before I contact him again? I don't want to accuse him of not doing something he said he did...but I gave him the addresses for Irvine and UBC multiple times and none of the other professors had difficulty getting the letters there (which means that the address was good). And I'm nervous about the other two schools that aren't contacting me...because ti's coming from Canada, if the letter's not there, it will take awhile to get there. I don't know if I could have it there in under a week.

Sooo frustrating. And I haven't received funding anywhere yet, so I'm really hoping for OSU and UBC...and I don't know what to do.

So I guess the advice I'm looking for is

*should I be worried?

*how should I approach this with the professor/the schools in the least annoying fashion to get this resolved as quickly as humanly possible?

Thanks for helping

Noelle

[Tinyboss]

I had a problem like this, too. The department secretary scanned the letter (she had it on file) and emailed it to the department.

[fuzzylogician]

I have found it *very helpful* to come to office hours and actually watch the prof. put the letter in the envelope, then take it and express send it wherever. Of course, you'd have to coordinate the visit in advance so the letter is ready but assuming it's already written that shouldn't be a big problem. Say you'd like to pick it up and send it yourself--that way at least you know it's in the mail.

[nandelle]

I would do that, but he's in Montreal, and I'm in Seattle...makes it difficult to drop by office hours

I think I"m going to make some phone calls to the departments tomorrow, and then perhaps ask if there's a way I can have him e-mail the letter to the departments, so that they at least have a copy while we sort out the paper copy mess...sigh.

[fuzzylogician]

I also had recommenders far far away (read: on a different continent as I). The solution that time: express send them stamped and addressed envelopes for the schools that didn't have online submission, then phone them up and ask them if they would print the letter and send it while I'm on the phone so I know exactly when it was sent. Of course, that's after they've written the letter. They were all very understanding about my need to know that (and when) the letter was sent.

[fuzzylogician]

I should add that I only had to do this once b/c my recommenders were usually very punctual and would send me emails on their on to let me know that they've sent everything out, so it's not like I constantly pestered them.

[nandelle]

That's a good idea...the school I'm worried about does have online submission...so here's the latest

This morning I (FINALLY) get an answer from UBC saying "no, we haven't received it"

I also got an e-mail from the prof - a one-liner saying "I'll get back to you this afternoon".

So I get UBC to resend the e-mail detailing how to submit a recommendation online to him, and then I follow that up with another e-mail saying "Thanks for looking into this for me - this is the last thing I need for the UBC application, and they are beginning to review them soon. So in the interests of time could you submit it online?"

No word yet, so we'll see. I'll worry about Oregon and UC Irvine after I get UBC taken care of...

[nandelle]

He never did e-mail me back, and nobody's received a letter, not even online.

I'm really at my wits end. I don't have a phone number for him, but i'm debating just calling the department that he teaches in and just asking what I should do.

I know he's probably busy and everything, but this is getting ridiculous.

[fuzzylogician]

That's probably a good idea at this point. If you could get a secretary to help you that'll move the process along tremendously. Assuming the letter is written and only needs to be found on his computer and resent, that's not an impossibility.

Or get an alternative letter writer, if you can think of someone who can help you out short notice.

[rising_star]

Letters get lost, even when people do send them. One of my recommenders ended up sending his letter three times to one school because they kept saying they didn't have it. The third copy was actually emailed to the DGS, who he knows, and then followed up with a phone call to make sure it got there.

Just followup with the professor and let the school know the letter is coming.

[mmblue88]

I had a similar situation, where the professor never responded my emails after she said to send her all the forms electronically including some of my bg info. I let it sit for 2 weeks and I still haven't received a reply from her. So I decide to ask if she received my email and please let me know. (I'm not trying to pester her, just at least give me a response that she got the links etc.) But she never did and just decided to upload the recommendation and never responded my emails to even let me know that, "oh i uploaded it." (even though I got the confirmation from the schools). I don't know.....I thought it's kinda rude that they don't respond at all. Maybe I'm too sensitive... :? :roll:.....and yes I do understand that she had to teach or do research etc... I'm kinda like questioning whether she wrote a good rec afterall.....Is it possible that a professor talk "bad" about you in a rec? But then good thing, I waived my rights to read it.

And meanwhile I have a nice one that kept emailing me back and forth letting me know that the letter is in progress or he's gonna be out for a few days or if he would like more bg info to enhance the rec.

I just think it's always a hassle to ask for LoR even though it's crucial for grad school and the like. I always feel like I'm "asking for a favor" and yes, at first people open up and say "sure why not, oh yes I can write one." and then they disappear into thin air like it never happened until I 'annoy' them constantly? I mean I don't want them to have an impression that I'm being desperate.

To OP: I think it's better if the forms are electronic (if the schools have them online) so you can keep track of it. Otherwise it's kind of hard besides calling them up or going back to school in person.

[nandelle]

Nothing today, except I got an e-mail from OSU indicating that they also have not received this letter. I know that schools lose stuff all the time, but when 3 schools all are missing the same letter from the same prof, it begins to look like he didn't send it.

And I haven't heard anything further from him, and I don't want to be perceived as pestering but I have to

1. let him know that OSU's deadline has also passed, and they also record having not received the letter

2. Beg on my knees for him to submit the letter to Irvine and UBC as soon as possible.

I dug through all my old school stuff looking for his phone number, but I recycled most of my old notes, etc, when I moved back after graduation...boy am I ever regretting that now.

mmblue, it's good to hear that I'm not alone!! I really hope everything works out for you. Yes, it's unbelievably frustrating when they not only tell you they did something when they didn't, but then stop responding to e-mails, etc. I mean, this is kind of a big deal for our futures...surely they realize that it's very important that if they agree to write a letter, to actually do it? Otherwise they may totally screw over a student's future.

Do you guys know if schools typically auto-reject someone if they don't have all their letters together, or will they at least informally review an applicant if their application is complete except for one letter of recommendation?

[plisar]

It sounds like your schools really want to review your files based on their constant contact with you. A lot of programs would not do this. However, it also sounds like you might be getting a little late at this point for turning everything in.

[cath2024]

When something similar to this happened to me, I called the recommender directly to ask about it. I know you don't have his number, but it seems like calling the department and asking someone there for it would be the way to go.

Good luck.

[mmblue88]

If your notes don't have his info. I think you can check the school's website. I know for my school I would go to the department's website and they list the faculty's email and phone number. That's how I contact mine.

Some schools put your application on hold if everything is not in. If they ask for 3 recs, they really meant 3 rec not 2. =/ Would you be able to ask another professor for a rec?

[nandelle]

Relief - just when I was about to e-mail another professor asking for an emergency letter, he sent them in. Thank goodness!

Hopefully, as the deadlines were mid-february for these schools, it won't hurt *that* much.

Now it's back to worrying about whether or not I get in

[mmblue88]

Congrats! Mine just sent them in today as well. I emailed the other one thanking her and she finally replied with "You're welcome. Good Luck!" Now I just gotta take my GRE in 2 weeks and send in all my applications and transcripts.

Oh yes, worrying about being rejected is really frustrating >.<

[peanutbutter]

Apparantly, this kind of situation is very common.

I similarly had a professor who sent out recs for some schools and then flaked on the rest. I probed and he sent it to one of the schools left off the first list. Then I started to doubt why he wouldn't want to send the letters on my behalf...was it REALLY just absent-mindedness? (Though I got an A+ in his class and it is graded on a strict curve.) So I asked a different professor to write me a rec - very last minute - also not ideal. I should also mention I am several years out of school so seeing these people in person is also difficult.

Hopefully schools understand that even when we do our best to remind, provide guidance, etc....it is somewhat out of our control!