What's the Deal with Professors Turning in Recommendations Late or not even at all- even after you've politely notified them several times?

[M.A-Cool-J]

Perhaps a professor has more important things to attend to than your less important reference letter - which without it creates an incomplete application that not only shatters your chances of admission but throws months and months of a grueling and heavily invested application process into the gutter.

 

Perhaps he/she is smugly leaning back in their cozy upholstered office or in an exquisite sun-lit bungalow off the coast of Monaco, blowing smoke circles through a premium cigar while swirling around a glass of red wine, sardonically guffawing at and disregarding your polite reminder e-mails and phone-calls even as the deadline fast approaches (highly unlikely but when you've exhausted all possible scenarios to give them the benefit of the doubt, unflattering negative imagery becomes that much more palatable).

Perhaps he/she has forgotten that they too were a prospective grad student in some distant past life gone by, toiling through the same arduous ritual of delivering courteous reminders to past unresponsive professors to submit their recommendations on time.  Or perhaps, (hopefully not), it is some form of vengeful pay-back for all the professors who blatantly dismissed or simply forgot about their oh-sweet-precious reference letters during the summer of 1921 (or whatever it is year that they graduated) and now they wish to impose the same anxiety and unfair treatment they were subjected to onto you.  "It's a right of passage, nothing personal, and I will submit it when I'm good and ready" they gleefully smirk to themselves as they skim through your e-mails with as much empathy as a famished wolf eyeing a wounded bunny rabbit. "All professors do it to their students at least once in their career", they mumble while nodding their heads - as if this is an expected practice and universally accepted moral code of conduct amongst professors. "And you will too if you so choose to join the club someday, " they add, "and will receive the coveted exclusive manual on how to [insert favorite expletive here] up an applicant's chances of admission. "

 

But when the student has initially contacted you 4 months prior to the deadline and concurrently provided you with valuable information regarding pertinent details of the intended program, highlights of past performance in your course, copy of their personal statement showcasing their goals as well as a tailored resume outlining their past accomplishments and other professional-related duties, your continued unresponsiveness closer to the deadline becomes increasingly disturbing.  Being slower than a 3-legged tortoise jacked up on sedatives in this instance simply doesn't help anybody, including yourself.  What's more having provided all this information along with a 2-week, 1-week and even 2-day courteous reminder to have the professor still not respond and completely miss the deadline, calls into question your professionalism and even to some extent - ethical standing.  If you've given the student your word and re-assurance that you can indeed provide the reference by the stated final deadline date, then by all means you are obligated to the best of your ability to honor your word.  Things do happen and if they do, politely informing the student in a timely manner that you can no longer fulfill the request will be understood and they can pursue alternative courses of action.  However, giving the false impression a month in lieu of the approaching deadline that you will able to do so, whilst simultaneously giving the student a false sense of security can truly jeopardize their chances to find quick-fix solution.  A professor is under no obligation to assist a student with a reference.  However, if you have enthusiastically agreed to do so and I have taken the time and effort to be respectful of your individual priorities and provide you with ample resources ahead of time to fulfill the request, then I also expect to be treated in the same courteous and professional manner concerning fulfilling that request.  Is this too much to ask?  I feel the recommendation letter process is 2 way street but often times a diligent student yielding to the traffic signs, gets crushed over by a less-mindful professor not paying enough attention to the rules of the game.  

 

Am I wrong here?  Maybe someone has some more infinite wisdom on the matter.  Ultimately, what I guess I want to know is - what's the deal with professors turning in recommendations late or not even at all - even after you've politely notified them several times?

[arakawa]

M.A-Cool-J,

 

I really liked your text!  I am having the same problem. Could you give me a LoR? (just kidding...)

[Dedi]

That's interesting -- I never had such a problem with LORs when I've applied for scholarships. In fact, the letters are written so fast that I wonder if they are fully thought out. One of my professors did say that it isn't hard to find good qualities about me to write about, which does dampen the anxiety a bit. Still, I wonder...

[Between Fields]

I sort of embarrassed myself by going to the trouble of securing a fourth letter, when one of my recommenders' secretaries told me that she hadn't done it yet, but she actually had... The lesson I've learned is to have faith.

[ArtsyGirl]

I have had this happen and it was very frustrating.  I never asked that person again.  I had another person flat out not write the letter, but since I was applying to her department and she would have been reading it, she didn't do it.  lol.  

 

 

Seriously though, if they don't want to do it, I would rather them tell me no so I can find someone who will submit the letter on time. 

[crysby]

I had one letter writer only submit a letter to half of my schools. I sent them a few polite reminders and never heard back, so I decided not to apply to three programs that required letters by the application deadline. The fourth school accepted LoRs after the deadline so I applied anyway. I just received a provisional acceptance from the program, but I'm worried that not having a third letter may still end up harming me.

 

The professor has always been extremely helpful in the past though, so perhaps something came up or things just got busy. I had a few professors turn me down junior year when I needed help establishing an internship program at my university. I really just needed a sponsor, but they were busy taking care of sick and elderly parents--which I completely understand. I barely finished my applications before my own grandmother became severely ill. Things happen. It sucks for both sides. 

[Vene]

I had both professors write me LORs as well as industrial scientists. It is amazing how different the turn around time was between the two groups.

[juilletmercredi]

One of the things I've learned is that academics have strange relationships with deadlines.  They seem to view them as suggestions more than actual requirements.  Often they have a sense of self-importance that tells them that they, Eminent Scholar, are too important and busy to worry about deadlines.  It's super frustrating because I am a person who likes to make deadlines.

In any case, though, this usually doesn't shatter your chances or throw all your hard work away.  Admissions committees are generally lenient on letters that trickle in sometimes up to two weeks after the admission deadline.  And one of my recommenders actually forgot about the NSF deadline (!!!) but called NSF and asked if she could submit the letter late.  They said yes, she did, and I got the fellowship.

It's not payback, or vengeance, or anything like that.  It's just them simply forgetting about them.

[bakalamba]

I've had great experiences from nearly all of my LOR writers over the years. However ...

 

One faculty member, who I have a great relationship with, checks her email but never responds to it, and forgets appointments easily. The best method of contacting her is to stand outside her office door in between classes, or when you think she'll be on campus, and eventually she'll show up and pencil me in (another faculty member recommended that I "ambush" her). As per her request, I provided a rough draft of a recommendation letter, for her to fill in details - which involved me awkwardly staring at a document which started "I highly recommend [my name] because ..." - it's very hard to write your own recommendation.

 

I sent her the draft, also with some talking points - which of her seminars I took, my academic/professional background - and sent her all the online recommendation forms. No response. As the deadline was nearing, I checked the online applications, and she hadn't submitted any. Sent a polite follow-up email ("you should have emails from these Universities ... let me know if you have any trouble accessing the forms ... etc."). Still no response.

 

A few days before the first deadline,I meet with her again (waiting outside her office for an hour). She still had the rough draft, but hadn't made any changes. So we sit down together, and I make copies of the draft, tailor them for each school, and we submit every recommendation together, from the emails that were sitting, read, in her email inbox.

 

I found out that this is her method with every student. I've had this situation before - where a faculty really wants to recommend you, but doesn't have the time, so they ask for a rough draft of the letter. But not to this extent. In my last round of applications (hopefully my last, at least for graduate school), I had to find another recommendation writer. I got a job and couldn't spend my free time sitting in front of someone's office trying to ambush them.

[victorydance]

I am bit worried about this happening to me next fall. My honours thesis adviser barely ever responded to emails and is quite aloof. I am no longer in the city of my university and can't physically urge him to hand them in either.

 

But maybe I am just worrying for no reason. He does know I am applying to grad schools and he offered to write me letters without asking. So we'll see I guess.

[12345678900987654321]

"Perhaps a professor has more important things to attend to than your less important reference letter" 

 

Not perhaps, they DO have much more important things to do than write you a letter. With your attitude towards professors I'm not surprised that they haven't written you a letter. Perhaps it is for the best.

[Vene]

"Perhaps a professor has more important things to attend to than your less important reference letter" 

 

Not perhaps, they DO have much more important things to do than write you a letter. With your attitude towards professors I'm not surprised that they haven't written you a letter. Perhaps it is for the best.

Such an unreasonable thing it is to expect a professor to work to advance a student's education, especially when said professor more likely than not encouraged said student to pursue an advanced degree.

[harrisonfjord]

I don't mean any disrespect on this thread and I realize that professors are busy people, but if they agree to write one for you and then later don't, it's flat out wrong. They know the admissions requirements for graduate school. If I have followed respectful protocol and given them the materials and time to write the letter, then I would hope they would at least in return respect me enough to write the letter. Besides, for my LORs I was either a RA or a TA for those professors (mostly volunteer, unpaid) and I clearly did put in the time to assist them to the best of my ability.

Edited June 19, 2014 by harrisonfjord

[MJA87]

I don't mean any disrespect on this thread and I realize that professors are busy people, but if they agree to write one for you and then later don't, it's flat out wrong. They know the admissions requirements for graduate school. If I have followed respectful protocol and given them the materials and time to write the letter, then I would hope they would at least in return respect me enough to write the letter. Besides, for my LORs I was either a RA or a TA for those professors (mostly volunteer, unpaid) and I clearly did put in the time to assist them to the best of my ability.

 

Yeah, I agree entirely. If they agree to write the recommendation and don't, that's extremely poor form.

 

I'm having a dilemma where I emailed a professor that I really need a recommendation from two weeks ago and haven't heard anything back. It's getting to the point where I would rather hear a "no" than nothing at all, so I can at least make other arrangements. Not knowing if he hates me and won't even dignify my request with a response, or is just on vacation is killing me.

[Vene]

Yeah, I agree entirely. If they agree to write the recommendation and don't, that's extremely poor form.

 

I'm having a dilemma where I emailed a professor that I really need a recommendation from two weeks ago and haven't heard anything back. It's getting to the point where I would rather hear a "no" than nothing at all, so I can at least make other arrangements. Not knowing if he hates me and won't even dignify my request with a response, or is just on vacation is killing me.

I'm all but certain it's not because he hates you. Professors, as a whole, are quite busy as well as scatterbrained, and it is currently summer so student concerns are not a top priority of theirs. Your email probably was lost in their inbox. You could try emailing again or maybe the professor is more receptive to phone calls. Otherwise, the best way to talk to a professor, in my experience, is to actually meet up face to face. Granted, this may or may not be something feasible for you (for one of my LOR writers it was easy because she works in the same city as me, another one of my writers was in a different state so I had to rely upon email).

 

Also, it's pretty early to need to secure recommendations, September is a better time.

[MJA87]

I'm all but certain it's not because he hates you. Professors, as a whole, are quite busy as well as scatterbrained, and it is currently summer so student concerns are not a top priority of theirs. Your email probably was lost in their inbox. You could try emailing again or maybe the professor is more receptive to phone calls. Otherwise, the best way to talk to a professor, in my experience, is to actually meet up face to face. Granted, this may or may not be something feasible for you (for one of my LOR writers it was easy because she works in the same city as me, another one of my writers was in a different state so I had to rely upon email).

 

Also, it's pretty early to need to secure recommendations, September is a better time.

 

Thanks a lot. I had thought as much but it's great to hear it from someone else

[Panda7099]

I have had this happen and it was very frustrating.  I never asked that person again.  I had another person flat out not write the letter, but since I was applying to her department and she would have been reading it, she didn't do it.  lol.  

 

 

Seriously though, if they don't want to do it, I would rather them tell me no so I can find someone who will submit the letter on time. 

Exactly.  It is so frustrating.

[akraticfanatic]

One of my deadlines was yesterday and the prof has not submitted the LOR, despite assuring me yesterday in class that he was on top of it! However, he's gotten everything else in on time (this is the last deadline), and it's not my first choice of schools anyway, so I'm not that worried about it. Waiting for the LORs is definitely the most stressful part of the app process though-- apart from waiting for a decision once everything is in!

[angesradieux]

8 minutes ago, shayhenckel said:

One of my deadlines was yesterday and the prof has not submitted the LOR, despite assuring me yesterday in class that he was on top of it! However, he's gotten everything else in on time (this is the last deadline), and it's not my first choice of schools anyway, so I'm not that worried about it. Waiting for the LORs is definitely the most stressful part of the app process though-- apart from waiting for a decision once everything is in!

If it makes  you feel better, two of my letter writers missed my first deadline by several days. Then, one letter writer missed the deadline for my second application. Granted, she only missed it by an hour, but I was still absolutely livid and terrified that with late letters on 2/4 of my applications, I wasn't going to get in. For my last two, all of my letters miraculously got in on time. However, one professor kept me up until 11:50 pm, frantically refreshing the page and waiting to see if they'd get it submitted that night or if there would be at least one late letter on every single one of my applications. I'd totally written off the first school as a waste of my application fee, because I couldn't imagine 2/3 letters being late would leave a good impression. But, the only rejection I received was from one of the schools where all of my letters were submitted on time. Both schools that received letters past the stated deadline offered me admission.

Don't lose hope! Frustrating as the missed deadline is, as long as your professor does submit a letter, it may not have hurt your chances.

[akraticfanatic]

21 hours ago, angesradieux said:

If it makes  you feel better, two of my letter writers missed my first deadline by several days. Then, one letter writer missed the deadline for my second application. Granted, she only missed it by an hour, but I was still absolutely livid and terrified that with late letters on 2/4 of my applications, I wasn't going to get in. For my last two, all of my letters miraculously got in on time. However, one professor kept me up until 11:50 pm, frantically refreshing the page and waiting to see if they'd get it submitted that night or if there would be at least one late letter on every single one of my applications. I'd totally written off the first school as a waste of my application fee, because I couldn't imagine 2/3 letters being late would leave a good impression. But, the only rejection I received was from one of the schools where all of my letters were submitted on time. Both schools that received letters past the stated deadline offered me admission.

Don't lose hope! Frustrating as the missed deadline is, as long as your professor does submit a letter, it may not have hurt your chances.

I'm sure it's fine. He got it in yesterday, a day late. He got all the other ones in right at midnight too so I know what that's like! But now they're all in and all there is to do is wait...

[JKL]

It's a priority among other priorities.