How to send links to recommendation pages

[fencergirl]

Hello. I'm applying to 9 schools and am trying to make things easy on my recommenders, but I'm not sure the best way to do this. I'd like to send one email with links to the pages to upload my recommendation for all the schools. But I'm not sure I'm able to access this link directly - the forms want me to put the recommender's info in first, then the school's server sends them the email . Meaning they will end up with 9 emails from 9 different schools. Is there any way around this? Would appreciate any suggestions! I don't want to annoy my recommenders! 

[fuzzylogician]

I don't know any way around that. The emails always come from the system itself and go directly to the recommender, you don't act as a go-between once you've supplied the email address. The best you can do is provide them with a list ahead of time, send the emails in close proximity to one another, and send another email once you're done to let them know what emails they should be expecting, in case anything goes missing. 

[fencergirl]

Okay, that's what I suspected but I wanted to check. I'll forewarn my professors to expect a bombardment of their inbox. I offered to send the emails in 2 chunks (December due dates and January due dates) but haven't really gotten a reply either way...

[Elvidi]

8 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

I don't know any way around that. The emails always come from the system itself and go directly to the recommender, you don't act as a go-between once you've supplied the email address. The best you can do is provide them with a list ahead of time, send the emails in close proximity to one another, and send another email once you're done to let them know what emails they should be expecting, in case anything goes missing. 

I would say the same. I usually send recommenders a list of programs that require submission through some kind of portal. I usually include some kind of forewarning ("I should be getting these to you within the next hour or so - let me know if any are missing!"). I then literally open each portal in its own tab, enter the recommender info, and send the invitations one after another. 

It's a pain in the butt, but such is the age of digital communication ...

[TakeruK]

You'll have to send links via the reminder option through the application website. Advance warning of two "chunks" is a good idea---it's the strategy I used. If you know when your letter writer are most likely to be reading email, send the reminder at that time in the day so it appears at the top of their inbox. For example, if you know the letter writer does not check their work email on the weekend, sending it Friday afternoon may be a bad idea since by Monday, it might be buried in their inbox. For one prof, I know that he always does his email work from 9pm-11pm, after his kids go to bed, so I sent reminders at 8pm or so.