If I ask a professor to upload 18 letters...

[FullCircle]

Will the professor be annoyed and write something like "DO NOT ADMIT HER"?

 

I am going to apply for about 18 programs, as it's usually more difficult for international applicants to get accepted. I have studied in US for one semester as an exchange student, and a professor agreed to write me a LOR. But now I feel that uploading 18 letters might be too much to ask. 

So how many letters do you usually ask in US? Google told me it's less than 10...Is it possible that the professor will upload all the letters for me without being irritated? Or should I ask her directly? I will really appreciate your help.

 

[Loric]

They'll hate you.

 

If this is the route you want to go, go with something like Interfolio and get a generic letter and tell the writer you want to use it for multiple schools.

 

Frame it as you saving the writer the time, effort, etc.. of writing out multiple letters.. but dont tell them it's 18. Cuz that's legit insane.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Loric

[Maleficent999]

I am applying to nearly 10 schools. I feel the same way as you do. BUT I've been sending the requests in waves (as most schools I'm applying to don't allow interfolio) and so far I don't have any complaints. I do plan on sending them each a gift after application season though.

[St Andrews Lynx]

18 is a lot of schools to apply to, even as an international applicant. 

There's a risk that you will come across as unfocussed if you apply to too many schools (how well do all of those grad schools fit with your research interests). Although actually a bigger risk is that 18 applications are harder to keep track of, so the odds of your letter writers forgetting to upload a LOR to one school or having a 'Please Upload LOR' email getting lost in their inbox gets larger.

 

That said, if you're only applying to grad schools that use an online application program then the time it will take a professor to click on the email & upload their LORs is not greatly larger for 18 applications than it is for 10. 

 

Make life easy for your letter writers and send them a list of (i) the schools you are applying to (ii) each individual deadline for the letters (iii) special procedures for letter submission (e.g., all done online, mailed separately) (iv) the date their details were entered into the online applications and emailed the 'Please Upload LOR' message, so they don't have to trawl through their inboxes searching for the it. That should ease the sting a bit...

[TakeruK]

I am an international student and I agree that we have to apply to more schools in order to increase the chances of getting in. But I still think 18 schools is a lot. I applied to 8 schools (7 in the US, 1 in my home country, Canada). My opinion is that unless you are desperate to be in a US school (i.e. you live far from the US now and want to work in the US eventually), it's only worth it to apply to US schools on the higher end of your list, because there's no point going to a US school that is the same level as a school in your own country. 

 

Even for 8 schools, I thought it was a lot so I did what St Andrews Lynx suggested above. I also checked with my letter writers (who were all former supervisors and most of them were current mentors) to make sure they agreed with all of my choices and more importantly, the number of choices. 

[rising_star]

Whether or not 18 is a lot really depends on field. Folks in English Lit and Clinical Psych are notorious on here for applying to double-digit numbers of programs, even when they aren't international students.

 

As for the letters thing, I would only go the Interfolio route if your recommender requests it. It's expensive and it will cost you several dollars ($5?) per application that you have Interfolio upload letters for. And that's notwithstanding that some schools won't allow you to use Interfolio at all.

 

I would just ask the person if they are okay with it. In my field, no one uses Interfolio. I'm on the market and my advisor has already sent off more than 18 letters in support of my job apps. I asked about Interfolio and he said "No." Yes, it's more difficult to manage for both of us but, I'm doing what he said. So ask, then do whatever the person tells you.

[wandajune]

Just ask the letter writer if they are okay with it. I doubt they will "hate" you, and if they're professional there's no way they would write "don't admit her" just out of annoyance. I'm applying to 12 programs and my letter writers don't mind at all, in fact they had all recommended that I apply to as many programs as I can afford. (I'm sure the appropriate amount depends on your discipline, for mine 10+ applications isn't uncommon.) Just do whatever you can to make it easier--email your recommender a list of all the programs you're applying to and the due dates. Send gentle reminders when a due date is coming close, and make sure the instructions for uploading are clear. Most professors will use basically the same letter for all programs, so it honestly wont be a whole lot of extra work.

 

If your recommender seems to think the number of applications is inappropriate, then consider narrowing your list and cutting out schools that aren't as good of a fit for you.

Edited November 24, 2013 by wandajune

[MsDarjeeling]

The others have given you great food for thought.  The only thing I would add is that how many letters your professor is willing to write may also depend on how much time you give them to meet the deadline.  If you give them 3-4 weeks to do 18 letters, yeah I could understand them being annoyed.  If you give them 2-3 months to do 18 letters then that may seem like something they can actually accomplish.

 

It also may help to widen the number of professors you have writing letters for you.  What I mean is instead of asking the same professor to write all 18 letters, ask 2 professors to each write 9.  Surely you have more than one professor that can write you an outstanding letter and 9 is more manageable than 18.

[TakeruK]

I would just ask the person if they are okay with it. In my field, no one uses Interfolio. I'm on the market and my advisor has already sent off more than 18 letters in support of my job apps. I asked about Interfolio and he said "No." Yes, it's more difficult to manage for both of us but, I'm doing what he said. So ask, then do whatever the person tells you.

 

This is a good point. By the time we apply for post-docs or other post-PhD jobs, we will probably be sending in job applications to well over 18 places. Many of my friends at this stage sent in on order of 50-100 applications. I have heard of people sending in triple digits but I don't know any of these stories first hand so they might be exaggerated. 

 

I think if you have a good relationship with your prof, I think they really won't mind putting in the work to help you succeed, as long as they think their time is being used wisely. Most of us won't want to be spending time on something that has no clear benefit. So, there's a difference between asking your prof to write you 18 letters to 18 schools that were randomly chosen vs. asking your prof to write you 18 letters to 18 schools that all would be great fits for you. I think if you have a discussion with your prof about which schools to apply to, it might help you find something you might not have considered before, but also help them feel like they are actually writing letters that will be useful to you!

[FullCircle]

Thanks so much for all your helpful advice

But I think some of you might have misunderstood. I'm not asking for 18 different letters, but one generic letter for 18 different programs. All programs use online application systems. I know 18 sounds insane, even to myself...But it's common here. Even so every year one or two students in my department don't get any offer at all.

Two weeks ago I have sent the professor a list of programs I planned to apply for. I also asked her if she mind my applying for so many. But she didn't reply...

Anyway, I think I might just as well let her upload the 13 letters due on December 15th, and find another professor for the rest.

[rising_star]

FullCircle, no, we didn't misunderstand. We all know that it's basically the same letter, with maybe a few details changed, for each school. That is also the case when you apply to fellowships or academic jobs. That said, 13 letters by December 15th perhaps a bit of short notice...

[FullCircle]

FullCircle, no, we didn't misunderstand. We all know that it's basically the same letter, with maybe a few details changed, for each school. That is also the case when you apply to fellowships or academic jobs. That said, 13 letters by December 15th perhaps a bit of short notice...

Sorry, so I misunderstood...

I'm not sure how you usually do it in US. I was going to send her all the links together this week. I thought it might save her a little time to upload all the letter at once. Am I wrong?

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Sorry, so I misunderstood...

I'm not sure how you usually do it in US. I was going to send her all the links together this week. I thought it might save her a little time to upload all the letter at once. Am I wrong?

 

Your best bet is to ask your prof what they think.

[FullCircle]

It turns out that she doesn't mind at all (at least according to her email). She also asked me for a list of schools to make sure she won't miss any. It's soooooo nice of her.

Thank you all