Unexpected letter of recommendation issue.

[Swagato]

I've had excellent communications with my undergraduate and graduate writers, and have been in close contact with all of them via email and telephone. All my letters are in but one, but that's where things get odd.

That letter is to be from the graduate professor whose work directly forms much of the foundation for my PhD interests/projected research directions/etc., and also informs my writing sample. Plus, they are hugely respected in the field for not only being a brilliant scholar but also an exceptionally nice person. All in all, their letter is basically crucial to a successful application. Happily, I had a very encouraging conversation with them just recently in early December, and then sent off my materials that same week. Since then, I've had my other graduate prof. send in their letter, as well as my two undergrad letters, but this oh-so-important letter has not yet arrived. Term has ended at my graduate department, and I've send ample reminders, and I firmly believe they will come through---I just don't know when! They're obviously aware of the deadlines, too. My deadlines break into three groups (Dec. 1, 15, and end of the year). I'm just concerned that the first group may be seriously affected due to this missing letter.

What are my options? Email the department and mention what's going on? One explicitly acknowledges that letters get delayed, and so they'll give you up to early Jan (for an early Dec deadline!) for all letters to be in. I don't know if that's an unspoken convention at most departments or not.

Thoughts?

[ridofme]

Has this referee responded to any of your reminder emails?

I have not personally run into this issue, but I have read on this forum and elsewhere that schools will accept late letters of recommendation as long as they arrive before the committee sits down to review applications. Since your other three letters all arrived on time, it's clear that the problem is not your lack of organization. Some people are just flaky.

First, you need to make contact with this MIA professor, and confirm that he/she actually plans to write the letter. Then you need to talk to the admissions departments at the schools whose deadlines have passed and ask if they are still willing to accept a late letter of recommendation. Do NOT complain about the professor's tardiness - simply state that one referee was not able to make the deadline, and you were wondering if he/she could send in something now.
 

[RiseofthePhoenix]

I was in a similar situation recently with one of my professors really taking his time with the uploading process after multiple in-person and email reminders. I finally had to call each department which had close deadlines and explain that one of my professors was having some issues blah blah. To my surprise, the department staff at every school I contacted were super friendly and said that this is actually a common issue. As long as you have your application submitted and the only thing missing is the LOR, most departments will give you a few days to a few weeks as a grace period to get them in. My situation was weird in that the said professor ended up uploading his LOR to 3/8 of my programs and not the rest. So, I designated a replacement for him and had to call the grad offices and make changes to the notification system from their end...lots of unnecessary work in a very stressful period of my life! But even then, the department staff were very cooperative and reassuring. 

 

Here is what I would do in your case. Contact the departments and explain to them that one of your LORs may be late. Don't explain why and don't be rude or put down the professor; just tell them it might arrive late. Ask them what the latest date it can be in by is. Also, see if you can designate a 4th/optional recommender just in case your professor, for whatever reason, doesn't send his LOR in. I was lucky in the sense that my missing LOR was actually my third LOR and my primary LOR (my advisor) and my secondary uploaded theirs way ahead of time. 

 

Best of luck and I hope it all works out for you.

[Swagato]

Thanks for the responses.

 

A few words of clarification.

 

Since Dec. 3, I'm aware that things at the department have been very busy--convocation, finals, grading, etc. Technically, it's only been 3 weeks since we spoke. For a letter, especially from an extremely high-up faculty member in the field, that's barely any time. They have never indicated anything other than full support (and in fact has been instrumental in guiding/shaping my second round of applications this year), so to drop me now would be...very unlikely? So that's one thing. 

 

The other thing is that they are my primary recommender due to the close links between my application/work/PhD proposal and their own work. That makes it unfortunate that this letter is the missing one. I'm hearing from various faculty and student contacts that most departments won't really begin to go through files until after the holiday season, and that one missing letter won't wreck me. Of course, I'd like to get this in ASAP. My plan is to reach out to my recommender via phone just after Christmas.

 

I'm a bit in two minds about contacting departments. On the one hand it won't really do much either way, but on the other, at least it'll make them aware that the fourth letter will, in fact, show up...eventually. 

[PhDreams]

I had the same exact issue as RiseofthePhoenix... to the T. I also called the dept and added a 4th recommender to my list. If my professor ever decides to upload the letters, I'll just have a 4th. If not, I'll have the minimum required (3). Every school has been really flexible and accomodating in case that puts your mind at ease. It's too bad because I also really through that this letter would be the strongest. So far the professor has only uploaded 1/7 letters. D: Oh well... after several in-person and email reminders, I have given up. I know this will all work out...eventually.

[Swagato]

The frustrating part here is that my writer has a mere three uploads, not 7, not 15. They just need to actually get around to it. Sooooooon.

[Notker the Stammerer]

I'm in the same boat.  One out of three has been remarkably uncommunicative.

 

He agreed to write the letters, so surely he will...right?  Do professors ever agree to write a letter and simply not follow through?

[RiseofthePhoenix]

I would designate a fourth/optional reference just in case. These guys are nice people and mean well but are extremely busy. They all have lives, families, go on vacations etc etc. I wouldn't take any chances.

Edited December 27, 2012 by RiseofthePhoenix

[shadowclaw]

I'm in the same boat.  One out of three has been remarkably uncommunicative.

 

He agreed to write the letters, so surely he will...right?  Do professors ever agree to write a letter and simply not follow through?

 

Yes, sometimes professors just flake out! It's not necessarily that they don't want to write the letter, but they get busy wit things and end up forgetting. Last year, one of the professors at my school never got around to writing his letter for a student, and coincidentally, she didn't get accepted anywhere. I don't know if she found a replacement or if she just went without. I wonder if she had been more agressive and nagged him about, if she would have got it. I had to do a lot of nagging myself to get my internship credits finalized with him. One of my own recommenders told me to nag him to make sure he didn't forget, because he knew he would. So I did just that. I e-mailed him, I reminded him after class, I popped my head into his office periodically, and I even text messaged him about it once... and he really appreciated the reminders.

[PhDreams]

No other letters from my professor. So far I just have one. Guess that's it. Oh well... My last deadline is in a few days. All other deadlines have passed.

 

Luckily my back up rec has pulled through and has uploaded a rec at every school so I now have the minimum needed. yay!

[Swagato]

I just wanted to update this: my professor did indeed come through. Perhaps I was the one impatient. Given the concentrated flurry of events over December (term ends, graduation, gradings, and the usual hierarchy of letter requests)  I think it's actually quite impressive for someone of their status to come through with a letter in less than a month. 

 

Also, I have heard from nearly every kind of source (faculty, student, administrative) that even significant delays in one letter does not endanger your whole application. Think about it this way. If an adcom is even partially inclined to seriously consider you, and they are aware that a letter (it should be noted here that the name of the writer of the letter obviously influences such situations) is pending, then it is almost definite that they will not judge one way or the other until that last letter drops in. In my case, the greatest delay is a matter of 26 days. But those 26 days also cover the immediate rush of activity around the deadline (Dec. 1), end-of-term activities, and the holidays. Many if not most departments with Dec. 1 deadlines will likely not begin seriously considering things until after Jan. 1. Even faculty members like their winter holidays. 

 

Of course, this is assuming that you are at least past the first cut. And that you have at least some letters in. But given all that, I think we can afford to loosen up just a bit over letters. Hope this helps!

[PhDreams]

So happy that you got it resolved!

 

 

Yeah, it's quite stressful to not have your letters come in. Mine still haven't and part of me thinks that they won't, even after countless reminders.

[ion_exchanger]

I recently received a rather personalized email from an admissions coordinator stating that two of my letters were missing and which ones they were. They told me that my application would be reviewed with just two letters, but they preferred three. They even stated which one, my primary one, they wanted the most. I definitely understand your struggle. I would say talk to them and explain your situation, to echo pretty much everything else. They are right, the apps stay open for recommenders. They admissions coordinator who emailed me even said that if it were easier, they could email the letters right to them. You may get a similar deal. You definitely don't want to lose out on that hard work (and app fee!) so by all means, do what you have to do. Good luck.

[RiseofthePhoenix]

Yeah I've heard of some people getting admitted with 2/3 letters too. This is good news considering I only have 1 more letter that needs to be uploaded to 3 more programs with deadlines on Jan 15.

[PhDreams]

I recently received a rather personalized email from an admissions coordinator stating that two of my letters were missing and which ones they were. They told me that my application would be reviewed with just two letters, but they preferred three. They even stated which one, my primary one, they wanted the most. I definitely understand your struggle. I would say talk to them and explain your situation, to echo pretty much everything else. They are right, the apps stay open for recommenders. They admissions coordinator who emailed me even said that if it were easier, they could email the letters right to them. You may get a similar deal. You definitely don't want to lose out on that hard work (and app fee!) so by all means, do what you have to do. Good luck.

 

This actually happened to me... which is how I found out my prof wasn't submitting letters. A very nice department coordinator actually called me (TWICE!) to let me know my letters were not in. This person also offered me their direct email and suggested that I have my recommenders submit them directly. Actually after having such a positive interaction with the dept, it really reinforced the fact that I really want to go to that school.

 

However, I managed to get a backup rec, but the prof who hasn't submitted is the biggest name and would have been the "strongest" letter I would have had. Thier name is instantly recognizable in my field. But I do have three solid letters. It's just too bad that I don't think I'll get that BIG one. I've decided to stop asking. There really isn't anything I have not done at this point.

 

So, in all. I think that the advice in this thread is pretty spot on. Depts are pretty flexible about when and how they receive the letters and they are also very understanding if you have to add a new name after the deadline.