Intended recommenders haven't answered my emails...

[teamind]

hey all,

I started the topic "Schmoozing with Recommenders before asking them?" ()

asking how to go about catching up with my intended LOR writers- then when it's time to ask, not coming across as if I was just schmoozing with them for a strong LOR. I went ahead and sent the schmoozy emails, dropping the casual reference that I am applying to graduate school so that when I ask them it won't be out of the blue.

That was June 23. Today is July 16. I haven't heard back from either of them yet.

We are on good terms, I've sent them update-emails before, and they are probably the only two professors within my field that will write me strong recommendations (I have a definite 3rd).

What do I do? I feel really awkward and kind of stupid reaching out again, especially since I didn't flat out ask them for a recommendation. I'm almost wishing now that I did, so that a follow-up email asking about it would be more understandable.

Do I send them another "whats up?" email? Do I ask them for recommendations? Do I make the 2 hour drive upstate to my undergrad institution and pop in their office?

[emmm]

Since you did not ask for letters in your first email, I don't see a problem sending another email to ask now. However, meeting in person could be good, and a 2-hr drive is not that long (my daily commute is longer than that sometimes). You could email and ask for an appointment to discuss your graduate school plans.

[Usmivka]

Short of that drive, e-mailing to set up a phone conversation about what you want to cover (letter of rec, what you'd like highlighted in it, why you are asking them...) may work well. Although I'm sure they'd appreciate you showing up in person. Regardless, you should follow emmm's advice and contact them specifically in regards to letters of rec.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Usmivka

[teamind]

Since you did not ask for letters in your first email, I don't see a problem sending another email to ask now. However, meeting in person could be good, and a 2-hr drive is not that long (my daily commute is longer than that sometimes). You could email and ask for an appointment to discuss your graduate school plans.

Short of that drive, e-mailing to set up a phone conversation about what you want to cover (letter of rec, what you'd like highlighted in it, why you are asking them...) may work well. Although I'm sure they'd appreciate you showing up in person. Regardless, you should follow emmm's advice and contact them specifically in regards to letters of rec.

Thanks for the advice. Is it not too soon to ask for a rec though?

[1Q84]

I don't think it's too soon, no. Better earlier than later, right?

If I were you I would've just skipped over the schmooze part and gotten down to brass tacks. I mean as has been said countless times, it's a professional courtesy and somewhat part of their job description to do this for former students. I have a feeling most profs could do without the dance around the maypole before you come out with your request.

[aec09g]

Just to drop in.

One of my professors does a similar thing that I think your two LOR writers are doing. Whenever he gets busy, he ends up reading all of his emails and then going back through and responding once he's thought of a thorough response. He often forgets to email me back, and he always tell me that if I don't respond with x amount of time, I should email him again.

Since it is summer, it has gotten much harder to get in contact with professors who I know aren't teaching summer classes. Most are home with their families or doing research, which means they are normally not very active in checking their emails.

That being said, I would email one more time and then either make a visit to campus to ask or call them. (; If you've worked with them long enough, they'll probably ask you if you want a LOR before you can get the words out.

(All three of my professors flat out told me that when the time comes they'll do a LOR for me when I wasn't even talking about the subject. /:)

Good luck!

[teamind]

I don't think it's too soon, no. Better earlier than later, right?

If I were you I would've just skipped over the schmooze part and gotten down to brass tacks. I mean as has been said countless times, it's a professional courtesy and somewhat part of their job description to do this for former students. I have a feeling most profs could do without the dance around the maypole before you come out with your request.

Thanks for the input. I would've skipped the schmooze part if it was all just for the LOR, but it wasn't. We have friendly relationships so I genuinely wanted to catch up, and formally ask for a rec in the future. it wasn't intended to be a dance around the maypole at all, although I see how it could come across as that.. which, initially, was my concern. Seems as though you are right and I should've just asked along with the other emails !

Just to drop in.

One of my professors does a similar thing that I think your two LOR writers are doing. Whenever he gets busy, he ends up reading all of his emails and then going back through and responding once he's thought of a thorough response. He often forgets to email me back, and he always tell me that if I don't respond with x amount of time, I should email him again.

Since it is summer, it has gotten much harder to get in contact with professors who I know aren't teaching summer classes. Most are home with their families or doing research, which means they are normally not very active in checking their emails.

That being said, I would email one more time and then either make a visit to campus to ask or call them. (; If you've worked with them long enough, they'll probably ask you if you want a LOR before you can get the words out.

(All three of my professors flat out told me that when the time comes they'll do a LOR for me when I wasn't even talking about the subject. /:)

Good luck!

Ahh okay, this makes me feel less crazy. This was my original thought as well; that since it is summer, they are busy, passed through my emails, and forgot to respond. It just worried me that they BOTH did it, and confused me as to how to react.

I'm definitely going to email them again, or if I can make the trip up soon enough, visit them in person. Thanks so much all!

[TakeruK]

You can also consider a Skype conversation with them! One of my mentors that helped me a lot with the PhD application process was my undergrad advisor but my current school is ~3000 miles away. A Skype call seems a little bit more "human" than a phone call (if you have video on) so that could be a compromise if you can't make the drive!

[TheFez]

Maybe their web sites, or the department secretary can tell you their office hours. Then you can always pick up the phone and CALL. 2-hours isn't that far if you know they will be in when you get there.

Good LORs are important and worth putting the (early) effort into.

[HappyCat13]

I have encountered this before. I was trying to ask one of my prof to help me write recommendation for my grad application. I was supervised under her on a research project and I did excellently on it. I also helped her in teaching students in her class (with some TA pay as well). There's a lot of interactions between us. It seems almost no reasons that she would not be willing to write recommendation for me.

But when I really sent out that long and sincere email to her asking about the LOR, she nevered replied. i sent it to another of her email. also no reply. I reminded her after one month. Also no reply. At that time I thought she might be on leave.

Then I visited the campus. She's not in the office. The admin girl in office told me that she saw the prof in campus in the morning. She's not on leave at all. So I left a msg note on her office door. But no reply still.

Subsequently I saw her sending mass communication emails to the department for some summer programs. This indicates that she is checking emails all the time.

In the end, I give up the idea of letting her to write LOR for me. I believe that she is not willing to do so and that's why she avoided my emails. Honestly speaking, I do not understand in what ways I did wrongly. I excelled in her class, did a lot of things. Our past communication were happy and nothing wrong happens. She also looked like that kind of very nice professor.