University of Colorado at Boulder

[Socrates1]

Read through this http://www.colorado.edu/admissions/graduate/apply/faq

 

[quoteHow does the online recommendation form work?

You provide us with the name and e-mail of your recommender(s) on the online application, and AFTER you submit your application we send an e-mail to your recommender(s) with the request. The e-mail links them directly to the online recommendation form. They simply fill it out and submit the form online, along with their letter. We will receive it automatically, and you will be notified by e-mail that we have received the recommendation.

[CommPhD20]

Yeah, it seems that this just increases the chance that you pay. The sooner you pay, the sooner you must decide that you want to go there, and the less chance that you back out at the last second because of a recommender/new information about the school/ran out of money. Several schools I'm applying to are doing this.

[fuzzylogician]

Seems pretty standard to me. You give them an email address, they email the recommenders, the recommenders get a link to an online app where they can submit letters. Doesn't sounds particularly difficult for the recommenders, or much different from other apps. The main annoying thing is that you can't send the recommenders the letter prompt until after you submit the app, but that too is not out of the ordinary. I doubt it has anything to do with the payment, it's probably just how the system is set up. They'll start a file for you as soon as you start sending in materials (=could be before you submit the app), and the other stuff is kept online anyway.

[Socrates1]

Yeah, it seems that this just increases the chance that you pay. The sooner you pay, the sooner you must decide that you want to go there, and the less chance that you back out at the last second because of a recommender/new information about the school/ran out of money. Several schools I'm applying to are doing this.

 

That seems horrible. UC Boulder is the only one I am that is.

 

 

Seems pretty standard to me. You give them an email address, they email the recommenders, the recommenders get a link to an online app where they can submit letters. Doesn't sounds particularly difficult for the recommenders, or much different from other apps. The main annoying thing is that you can't send the recommenders the letter prompt until after you submit the app, but that too is not out of the ordinary. I doubt it has anything to do with the payment, it's probably just how the system is set up. They'll start a file for you as soon as you start sending in materials (=could be before you submit the app), and the other stuff is kept online anyway.

 

The hassle is that it arbitrarily prevents my letter writers from working on their letters as long as I am working on the application. There is no reason at all the prompt couldn't be sent before my application is submitted. Since they have online applications, they certainly already have a file open for me.

[fuzzylogician]

Again, this is not unusual and it does not prevent your recommenders from working on the letter before you submit the app. All it does is prevent them from submitting it before you submit the app on your end. I understand it's annoying, but it's nothing to get too worked up over. I'm sure your recommenders have dealt with worse troubles in their lives.

[Socrates1]

Again, this is not unusual and it does not prevent your recommenders from working on the letter before you submit the app. All it does is prevent them from submitting it before you submit the app on your end. I understand it's annoying, but it's nothing to get too worked up over. I'm sure your recommenders have dealt with worse troubles in their lives.

 

Oh. And when you say that again, that actually makes sense. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that they could prepare it in word document or something.

 

Interesting you say it's not that uncommon, UC Boulder is the only school I'm applying to that does that.

[Cesare]

I am applying to 3 schools that have their applications set up in that manner. Not out of the ordinary, but not my preferred method. 

[fuzzylogician]

Back when I was applying there were both apps that only let you send a prompt after you submitted on your end and apps that wanted paper letters (but the rest of the app could be submitted online). I hear the paper recs are basically a thing of the past now, though, so good news--it could have been worse

 

The prompt-only-sent-after-submission thing is also annoyingly common in job applications, which don't require any application fees at all. It's just how some systems are set up, for reasons best known to their designers. I try not to worry about these things which I cannot control, but I totally understand your frustration.

[Socrates1]

Back when I was applying there were both apps that only let you send a prompt after you submitted on your end and apps that wanted paper letters (but the rest of the app could be submitted online). I hear the paper recs are basically a thing of the past now, though, so good news--it could have been worse

 

The prompt-only-sent-after-submission thing is also annoyingly common in job applications, which don't require any application fees at all. It's just how some systems are set up, for reasons best known to their designers. I try not to worry about these things which I cannot control, but I totally understand your frustration.

 

Yeah, just one thing I didn't need when I was tired, and on a break and work organizing things for my recommenders and saw that and proceeded to have a panic attack. These applications are not good for my blood pressure.

 

And paper letters aren't entirely gone, I'm applying to one program that wants paper letters, and actually accepts hard-copy applications.