Really quick question about online LoR systems

[haltheincandescent]

Hi everyone,

So, my 3 letter writers have all agreed to write for me, and I sent them each the list of the schools I'm applying to, with, where applicable, info about the submission process (basically: "all will be done through each department's online system"). Now I'm about to start submitting parts of the applications that will generate the recommendation request emails from the various departments, and am wondering: need I give my recommenders another specific heads up that these emails are about to come in, or is the original agreement and their subsequent approval of my list of schools (only about a week or so ago) basically enough of an advance warning for them to look out for these emails?

On a related note, how long is normal to get the request sent before the application deadline? Because some of the applications won't let me send the request until after I submit everything, so obviously I can't wait until the exact deadline to submit everything on my end if I want the recs in on time....but is maybe two weeks or so enough time? (This is probably something to double check with the individual writers about, but I was wondering if there was maybe a generally acceptable timeline that I can have in mind as soon as possible, because all three of my writers are, well, not known for their rapid response to email.....)

Thanks!

[TakeruK]

Good questions!

You can always check with your letter writers if you are not sure, however, I do not think you need to give a heads up that the LOR email is about to arrive. As you said, since you can usually control when these emails arrive, what I did instead was talk to my advisors on the general timeline of when they wanted to receive the email. Typically, advisors will want to receive the LOR request several weeks in advance and receive them in chunks. I applied to 8 schools and instead of sending 8 LOR requests one by one, I sent them in three chunks (deadlines Dec 1-15, deadlines Dec 15-31 and deadlines after Jan 1).

I think I only encountered one school where I had to actually submit my own application before the recommender could even access the system for them to submit a letter. For that school, I made sure to complete everything on my end at least 2 weeks ahead of time. For most schools though, you can skip ahead to the recommender request page without finishing the rest of your application.

I would say that you should give at least 2-3 weeks notice for LOR request, then send a reminder in the week of the deadline (you know them best, I chose to send it 2 days before the deadline but you might prefer 3-5 days instead etc.). Most academics have to prioritize their time and this usually means not doing stuff until they absolutely have to, so I would not panic until the deadline actually passes (i.e. many of my letters were submitted on the day before it was due, or the day of). After the deadline passes, you can just remind your letter writers once again---in most cases, the letter arriving late will make no difference.