Letter of Recommendation due Monday - no response to reminders?

[Mickey123]

Hello, so a few weeks ago I asked several professors for letters of recommendation, as I need two for an application, and I will admit that it was a bit short of notice. I went to the office of one of my professors rather than sending her an email, and after we talked for a bit she said she'd be happy to do it and to send her a reminder of our conversation through email. I did so, and she responded, asking me to respond once more and change the subject of our email thread to include the due date. 

 

Fast forward to to this past Monday (a week from the deadline), and I sent her this reminder:

Hi Dr. _______

 

This is a brief reminder that the letter of recommendation for my ______ Application is due next Monday, February 15th. 

 

If you would like a copy of my personal statement or any other documents, I would be happy to send them to you. 

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf. I greatly appreciate your kindness and the time you have spent, and I will keep you updated about my application process.

 

Best,

 

(Sorry about the weird formatting all of a sudden.)

 

I didn't receive a response, so I sent another reminder yesterday - is this where I went wrong? I sincerely hope that I am not nagging her. This is what I sent on Thursday:

 

Hi Dr. ______,

 

This is a quick followup to ask if you could let me know when you have sent my letter of recommendation for _______. Thank you again.

 

Best,

 

 

 

I will be on campus this afternoon and am thinking of stopping by her office, though I doubt she will be there. My other concern is that classes are not in session on Monday, so I doubt she will be there then, either. Any suggestions? Thank you all very much. 

[iloveOM]

6 hours ago, Mickey123 said:

Hello, so a few weeks ago I asked several professors for letters of recommendation, as I need two for an application, and I will admit that it was a bit short of notice. I went to the office of one of my professors rather than sending her an email, and after we talked for a bit she said she'd be happy to do it and to send her a reminder of our conversation through email. I did so, and she responded, asking me to respond once more and change the subject of our email thread to include the due date. 

 

Fast forward to to this past Monday (a week from the deadline), and I sent her this reminder:

Hi Dr. _______

 

This is a brief reminder that the letter of recommendation for my ______ Application is due next Monday, February 15th. 

 

If you would like a copy of my personal statement or any other documents, I would be happy to send them to you. 

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf. I greatly appreciate your kindness and the time you have spent, and I will keep you updated about my application process.

 

Best,

 

(Sorry about the weird formatting all of a sudden.)

 

I didn't receive a response, so I sent another reminder yesterday - is this where I went wrong? I sincerely hope that I am not nagging her. This is what I sent on Thursday:

 

Hi Dr. ______,

 

This is a quick followup to ask if you could let me know when you have sent my letter of recommendation for _______. Thank you again.

 

Best,

 

 

 

I will be on campus this afternoon and am thinking of stopping by her office, though I doubt she will be there. My other concern is that classes are not in session on Monday, so I doubt she will be there then, either. Any suggestions? Thank you all very much. 

I was in the same position as you, waiting for the final recommendation letter. One lesson I get from the application is that LOR can come later than deadline (not later than 2 weeks is fine). Admission Committee knows that professors are very busy, and sometimes they forget. Because you have sent the reminder, just let it be. If there is no response until middle of next week, come to see her then. That's my opinion and how I did with my recommendator.

 

[marycaryne]

On 2/12/2016 at 7:17 AM, Mickey123 said:

Hello, so a few weeks ago I asked several professors for letters of recommendation, as I need two for an application, and I will admit that it was a bit short of notice. I went to the office of one of my professors rather than sending her an email, and after we talked for a bit she said she'd be happy to do it and to send her a reminder of our conversation through email. I did so, and she responded, asking me to respond once more and change the subject of our email thread to include the due date. 

 

Fast forward to to this past Monday (a week from the deadline), and I sent her this reminder:

Hi Dr. _______

 

This is a brief reminder that the letter of recommendation for my ______ Application is due next Monday, February 15th. 

 

If you would like a copy of my personal statement or any other documents, I would be happy to send them to you. 

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf. I greatly appreciate your kindness and the time you have spent, and I will keep you updated about my application process.

 

Best,

 

(Sorry about the weird formatting all of a sudden.)

 

I didn't receive a response, so I sent another reminder yesterday - is this where I went wrong? I sincerely hope that I am not nagging her. This is what I sent on Thursday:

 

Hi Dr. ______,

 

This is a quick followup to ask if you could let me know when you have sent my letter of recommendation for _______. Thank you again.

 

Best,

 

 

 

I will be on campus this afternoon and am thinking of stopping by her office, though I doubt she will be there. My other concern is that classes are not in session on Monday, so I doubt she will be there then, either. Any suggestions? Thank you all very much. 

I don't know if you've had any resolution to this, but hopefully so since it has been almost a couple of weeks since you posted about it.

I had a professor that was taking her time on the LORs. Every time I emailed her, she was always busy with something. Last week it was a trade show she was at but said she had her laptop and would still do it that week. She didn't. I had the reminders sent out, but no response. Finally this morning I emailed her stating her letter was the only outstanding item left for my applications to be complete (which was true). I did not get a response, but the letters were submitted this evening.

[thingii]

38 minutes ago, marycaryne said:

I don't know if you've had any resolution to this, but hopefully so since it has been almost a couple of weeks since you posted about it.

I had a professor that was taking her time on the LORs. Every time I emailed her, she was always busy with something. Last week it was a trade show she was at but said she had her laptop and would still do it that week. She didn't. I had the reminders sent out, but no response. Finally this morning I emailed her stating her letter was the only outstanding item left for my applications to be complete (which was true). I did not get a response, but the letters were submitted this evening.

So it's all fine now then?

My experience has been similar - my undergrad thesis supervisor (and whose LOR is my "principal" letter) is always busy, and has always left things to the last minute due to other more important things. But he's always submitted them, albeit through my non-stop, repeated, nagging (with lots of kindness and gentleness).

I feel like professors generally can be quite reliable with these. As late as they may be, they tend to come through with reminding. (This was the case for me with 2 other professors, both known notoriously in my department for being disorganised.

[marycaryne]

Just now, thingii said:

So it's all fine now then?

My experience has been similar - my undergrad thesis supervisor (and whose LOR is my "principal" letter) is always busy, and has always left things to the last minute due to other more important things. But he's always submitted them, albeit through my non-stop, repeated, nagging (with lots of kindness and gentleness).

I feel like professors generally can be quite reliable with these. As late as they may be, they tend to come through with reminding. (This was the case for me with 2 other professors, both known notoriously in my department for being disorganised.

In my particular situation it is fine; I am just playing the waiting game. I don't know about Mickey123 though - I wonder how that turned out.

As far as my professor, she and I spoke about it several times, but it wasn't until I let her know that her letter was the only thing keeping the application from being complete that she actually submitted it. I wanted to stay on her since she has a habit of thinking she has done something only to have never done it all. It was something I experienced with her several times in the classes I have had with her.