When to be pushy about getting a rec done?

[DSA]

My third letter-writer has been pretty uncommunicative, sadly. I first got a hold of him in May, and he said he'd be happy to do it. Kept him up to date with my ongoing application work, and had to prod him to get a response in October where he said he'd get the letters in in mid-November. Haven't heard from him since or seen any activity. Sent him more reminder emails last night and had each of my schools resend him another message. If he doesn't reply in the next couple of days I'll have to call him I suppose.

 

It's a little frustrating because he would be one of my better recommenders, as I worked more closely with him during my academic years. If he completely falls through, I'll need to either go to another professor in desperation (and she's one who already said that she would only be able to give a generic LOR), or ask my mentor at work (in a software dev company) to do so, which he'd happily do except him not being an academic would be an issue.

[tuckbro]

I had to go to my third recommender's secretary and she read him the riot act and made him do all of my letters right then and there.  He had it written fortunately, but had not gotten around to uploading it and was hyper focused on his lab work and definitely would have missed the deadline if she had not intervened.

 

All are now complete - I do not need this stress during finals!

[DSA]

Phew! My third recommender has started to submit his recommendations. Just started getting the email notifications on that just now. I had left him a voicemail and attempted to reach him by phone a few times with no response, but I suppose it worked? Really happy about this!

[silver_lining]

I am still waiting for my 3rd letter writer to submit. He has only submitted those that were due before December 5th.... He is making me so anxious! I don't think uploading the rest of the letters will take more than an hour. I wish he would just get to it already!

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

I am still waiting for my 3rd letter writer to submit. He has only submitted those that were due before December 5th.... He is making me so anxious! I don't think uploading the rest of the letters will take more than an hour. I wish he would just get to it already!

 

I hear this. Still waiting on two letters, both professors with whom I'm very close. But they're both department chairs and it's the end of the semester... I don't know how many times I've answered when the deadlines are - but it's clear to me they're waiting until the first deadline to finally get around to it (this Friday).

[Solnce]

Wow. I thought it was only me who have been having such troubles.

[Strong Flat White]

If I have a deadline of this coming Monday and dude hasn't submitted it yet, do I wait until Monday before I email or do I email now?  Other?

 

And...hey, can we all make an agreement? Can we all agree that if and when we ever make it in our respective fields, that we remember what it was like to be completely in the dark about how people thought of us, and what it was like to be so reliant on those whose thoughts we're trying to read?  Can we maybe vow, here and now, to uphold commitments that we make to aspiring students, and then, when we freak them out by being on our schedule and not theirs, to at least acknowledge them and let them know where they stand and what we intend to do about it?  A quick email: Will have your letter submitted by x...and then actually DO it? Would a friendly follow-up email kill us?: Hey kid, I sent'em your letter, best of luck. It takes less than 4 seconds to type and send those messages that will save students literally hours, days, weeks, even months of anxiety. 

 

For my part, I'm ready to say yes and make that commitment. Who's with me?

[socioholic]

If I have a deadline of this coming Monday and dude hasn't submitted it yet, do I wait until Monday before I email or do I email now?  Other?

 

And...hey, can we all make an agreement? Can we all agree that if and when we ever make it in our respective fields, that we remember what it was like to be completely in the dark about how people thought of us, and what it was like to be so reliant on those whose thoughts we're trying to read?  Can we maybe vow, here and now, to uphold commitments that we make to aspiring students, and then, when we freak them out by being on our schedule and not theirs, to at least acknowledge them and let them know where they stand and what we intend to do about it?  A quick email: Will have your letter submitted by x...and then actually DO it? Would a friendly follow-up email kill us?: Hey kid, I sent'em your letter, best of luck. It takes less than 4 seconds to type and send those messages that will save students literally hours, days, weeks, even months of anxiety. 

 

For my part, I'm ready to say yes and make that commitment. Who's with me?

 

If I get admitted, graduate, and ever become a faculty member, I'm with you.

[silver_lining]

One of my letters is missing. It is clear that this professor started the letter since it is listed as "in progress." He submitted to other schools already, so I believe he must have just forgot about this one. He never responded to any of the reminder emails I've sent him over the course of this process (a total of 2 e-mails, so I am sure I have not irritated him). I have sent him a reminder via the application, but I don't know how to approach reminding him through email again... I hate sending reminder emails. The application is due today. His lack of communication makes me feel like I've done something wrong, but I don't know what.