Deadline is Friday, no response from professor.

[Tam]

My recommenders aren't late yet, but they've had my info for a few weeks and I don't think any of them have done anything with it at all. I'm mostly posting here to express some of my stress about it, not because it's dire yet. I almost wish the idea that they wouldn't actually do them had never crossed my mind.

[joro]

Day 3 and still nothing. I have a feeling that it will be a repeat of last year. So grad school may be out of the picture for me if he doesn't come through.

[cheesethunder]

Day 3 and still nothing. I have a feeling that it will be a repeat of last year. So grad school may be out of the picture for me if he doesn't come through.

WTOIOFifif

is wrong with thsi guy

i would honestly

go into full outharass mode

spam his email

spam the emials of his lab and pro ffriends

sit outside of his office all day

harass the department

this is soooooooooooooouncalled for

[luar de ouro]

See if you can start guilting your professor about ruining your future. I did with a lot of sappy, helpless emails to my own MIA LOR writer, and it eventually worked when she submitted her letter 1 hour before my U Chicago deadline.

Good luck with this!

[alexis]

See if you can start guilting your professor about ruining your future. I did with a lot of sappy, helpless emails to my own MIA LOR writer, and it eventually worked when she submitted her letter 1 hour before my U Chicago deadline.

Good luck with this!

joro, I agree. Could you go there and literally sit outside their office until they will meet with you and SUBMIT the letter to ALL the schools? (You can say something like, "oh, I'll just wait. Let me know when you're done.") That's what I had to do with one of my LOR writers. I know it's hard to do, but this person may be ruining your chances--not to mention for the SECOND year in a row--and it's not uncalled for to get quite aggressive.

[modernity]

Yeah I agree with the "go all out" method here in this very rare case. I mean the worst that could happen is that he won't write you a letter, which is what he is already doing... Don't let him get off without at least a solid explanation as to why he has let you down AGAIN and continues to promise he won't.

[Liesje]

Every school will allow some flexibility on LOR deadlines. Don't despair, but with that said, keep up the pressure. Schools understand that LoRs are to some extent out of your hands, as long as the pieces you control are in place you should be okay.

[joro]

I would go sit outside his office, but it's actually vacation for that school starting next week. And if he's in his office, he's either on the phone with other University Professors or teaching classes.

I will be calling him on Monday though, I think the number I called was his cell.

[tarski]

If he's teaching classes, wait outside and ambush him . I did that once this term.

[cheesethunder]

If he's teaching classes, wait outside and ambush him . I did that once this term.

lmao i ran into someone from the lab

and found out the had a meeting with him at a specific time

so i ....conviently dropped by at that time = )

[Ziz]

joro, I agree. Could you go there and literally sit outside their office until they will meet with you and SUBMIT the letter to ALL the schools? (You can say something like, "oh, I'll just wait. Let me know when you're done.") That's what I had to do with one of my LOR writers. I know it's hard to do, but this person may be ruining your chances--not to mention for the SECOND year in a row--and it's not uncalled for to get quite aggressive.

Hunger strike and sit-in!

Seriously though, I hate annoying them too, but remember it is part of their job and he's not completing his job duties right now.

[fancypants09]

Time for a mini-rant of my own...

As I mentioned before, my application deadlines are about a month out (3 weeks to be exact), but I'm kind of feeling nervous about my LORs because of the upcoming holidays: Next week is Christmas, and the following week is New Year's. I checked in with my LORs on Friday, and here's the count so far: One has finished all of his LORs, and another has started her LORs. My worry is actually with my 3rd LOR writer. As of Friday, he sent of one letter and sent it off via snail mail in an envelope I provided him. However, he has yet to upload an online recommendation for my first-choice school. When he replied this morning, he got the two letters confused (he thought he had finished all the LORs), but the online system for my first-choice school shows that, as of this morning, he hasn't uploaded his letter yet.

The problem with my 3rd LOR writer is that he's taking his winter break in Europe. He's leaving today. And not returning until January 19. My deadline is on January 15.

This particular LOR writer has been super supportive of me in the past, and he is pretty good about checking his email on a regular basis, so I'm not so worried about staying in touch with him. However, he dropped the ball once recently, regarding a reference request, and ever since then I've had a pretty hard time trusting him completely as I had in the past.

Anything I can do to assuage my worries and get the LOR writer on the ball?

[ridgey]

My concern with the go all out approach to delinquent letters is what if they write the letter while feeling all resentful at you for being demanding? Whether you actually have been demanding is irrelevant; in this case what the prof sees is what matters.

Which brings me to my own issue: When I registered one writer for online recs, I emailed to tell her I would drop in some forms for schools that required paper and that one school wanted a letter to a departmental email address. So she does all but one of the onlines, and doesn't send the email. When I drop in the forms she seemed pissed, like I'd suddenly thought to apply more places and was demanding more letters. She said she'd get to it next (this) week, and made it clear without saying it she thought I was a PITA

I need to resend the link for the online app she missed. But there is no way that she won't be pissed to find yet another thing related to writing me letters in her inbox. If I can time it for just as she reads the cover note I gave her with the forms where I said I'd have it resent, all will be well. Of course, I have no way of orchestrating that, so one of my letters will most definitely be from someone pissed at me.

[LifeIsGood]

When I was wrangling my LOR writers, I included in every email a check list of where we were in the process, including which schools that had confirmed receipt of the letters. My writers seemed to appreciate it. You could send in an email:

"Thanks so much for your assistance with these letters; I know it's a hassle. I've pasted below a copy of the table I'm compiling to help me keep the details straight, in case its useful for you as well to know where we are in the process."

School name___Requested (in letter)____Agreed___________Forms sent______________________Date LOR received by school

School X______xx/xx/xxxx (in letter)_____xx/xx/xxxx (email)__sent xx/xx/xxxx, resent xx/xx/xxxx

Edited December 21, 2009 by LifeIsGood

[modernity]

My concern with the go all out approach to delinquent letters is what if they write the letter while feeling all resentful at you for being demanding? Whether you actually have been demanding is irrelevant; in this case what the prof sees is what matters.

Which brings me to my own issue: When I registered one writer for online recs, I emailed to tell her I would drop in some forms for schools that required paper and that one school wanted a letter to a departmental email address. So she does all but one of the onlines, and doesn't send the email. When I drop in the forms she seemed pissed, like I'd suddenly thought to apply more places and was demanding more letters. She said she'd get to it next (this) week, and made it clear without saying it she thought I was a PITA

I need to resend the link for the online app she missed. But there is no way that she won't be pissed to find yet another thing related to writing me letters in her inbox. If I can time it for just as she reads the cover note I gave her with the forms where I said I'd have it resent, all will be well. Of course, I have no way of orchestrating that, so one of my letters will most definitely be from someone pissed at me.

I only recommended go all out for joro because of the background story they have - this recommender let them down last year and in so doing, prevented them from getting into grad school. The rec. promised to make up for it this year, and then on the day of swore up and down that they would have it in and then, yet again did not turn them in. If the rec doesn't want to submit the LOR then stop promising to do it !! Simple, no need to keep jeopardizing a students chances like that. It may be that joro wasted money again this year... and so to me, that takes the situation to another level of sabotage.

Its one thing when a rec is just late once, or on one application, or something of that nature...joro's situation is completely different and they really have nothing to lose by risking the irritation of the professor.

[ridgey]

I only recommended go all out for joro because of the background story they have - this recommender let them down last year and in so doing, prevented them from getting into grad school. The rec. promised to make up for it this year, and then on the day of swore up and down that they would have it in and then, yet again did not turn them in. If the rec doesn't want to submit the LOR then stop promising to do it !! Simple, no need to keep jeopardizing a students chances like that. It may be that joro wasted money again this year... and so to me, that takes the situation to another level of sabotage.

Its one thing when a rec is just late once, or on one application, or something of that nature...joro's situation is completely different and they really have nothing to lose by risking the irritation of the professor.

On the contrary, there's plenty to lose. I absolutely agree the prof has been amazingly cavalier with someone else's cicumstances. The time is right for making a stink if it were something where the mindest of the person in question wouldn't matter. BUT, if the writer begrudgingly writes and finds the student to be a pest (and again, whether this perception is reasonable or not is irrelevant) what kind of letter do you think will be the result?

[alexis]

On the contrary, there's plenty to lose. I absolutely agree the prof has been amazingly cavalier with someone else's cicumstances. The time is right for making a stink if it were something where the mindest of the person in question wouldn't matter. BUT, if the writer begrudgingly writes and finds the student to be a pest (and again, whether this perception is reasonable or not is irrelevant) what kind of letter do you think will be the result?

I know what you're saying, but I think it's worth taking that risk--if you don't get the 3rd letter, your applications won't be looked at at ALL and you won't get any admissions. There's way more to lose if that's the case. I'd rather risk irritating a professor (where, if he/she usually does like me, probably won't write a bad letter anyway) than basically give up all hope of getting into a program.

[joro]

I'm very irritated by this whole thing. I have at least a 80% chance of getting into my first choice program and one of the schools most companies I want to work for hire from. And without that letter, they will not look at my application. I would settle for any letter at this point. I had one school last year that basically said they will take me as long as I can produce that missing 3rd LOR. I was also offered $9k (not sure if it was a fellowship or scholarship) from the school...

I want to bug him, but I don't want to bug him to the point where he says he will just not do it. Still holding onto that glimmer of hope...

[fancypants09]

joro, if it's just one last letter that you need, is there a way that you can find someone else to write the letter for you? If it doesn't have to be this specific LOR writer, you might want to find an alternate writer--preferably someone who understands your current situation and will pull through for you.

Update on my own situation: Thanks to the lovely snow I was able to exchange a few emails with my LOR writer before he took off for his vacay. He said he previously uploaded his letter on the online recommendation system, but it looks like there could have been an error on his end or the system's end--the system never sent me a completed message, although the LOR writer said he successfully uploaded the letter before. He said he's totally fine with re-submitting it, which is great, even though he sounded kind of annoyed by the fact that I had the online system send him another registration email (I know, might have rubbed him the wrong way by being overly anxious). But I'm not blaming my LOR writer for anything--after all, he was checking his email at the airport!

Anyone else have LOR writers who had trouble with uploading?

Edited December 21, 2009 by fancypants09

[joro]

I've already entered his name in the system and I actually don't have anyone else. The Professors at my school don't remember me all too well. I was the quiet guy in the back that would just do the work unless it was a class I really liked. The Professors from those classes are writing me a letter. My department is actually small too and so I would normally take classes taught by the same Professors.

Edited December 21, 2009 by joro

[modernity]

I know what you're saying, but I think it's worth taking that risk--if you don't get the 3rd letter, your applications won't be looked at at ALL and you won't get any admissions. There's way more to lose if that's the case. I'd rather risk irritating a professor (where, if he/she usually does like me, probably won't write a bad letter anyway) than basically give up all hope of getting into a program.

Yes, this was basically my point as well. If the writer really likes you, then asking them to do what they promised to do (late no less) shouldn't irritate them in the first place. As intelligent professionals, who were once in the shoes of "grad school applicant" they should understand - and if they once completely forgot - they should understand even more why you would be emphatic this time. I'm not suggesting doing anything crazy or out of the ordinary - but I am suggesting calling the office to get the professor's office hours, sending another email, and trying to call again. Some people do not always respond to email or phone calls even if they're aware of them, because they tell themselves they'll get back to the student later and then forget as the day/week gets busy.

It's not going to pay off for a student to play coy in this situation -the worst that can happen is that they don't get in and that's already going to happen with a missing letter, and the student isn't asking for anything that the professor hasn't already promised at least three times over. (If the professor changed his mind then he needs to SAY so, not just disappear.)

[keylimekai]

Ok how about this one...

Penn State was the only application that asked for hard copies of LORs. On their website, they say "Apply by submitting the items listed below in one complete packet." I somehow misplaced one of my letters, one of my absolute WORST fears. The letter writer is out of the country for break, but said she could have our department coordinator print out a copy of the letter on January 4 when our campus opens back up. The due date for the application is also January 4, and I'm sure Penn State is also closed until then, so asking their dept. coordinator probably isn't worthwhile.

My question is this: do I send "one complete packet" a day late (January 5) OR do I send a packet with everything except the late letter?

[hubris]

Ok how about this one...

Penn State was the only application that asked for hard copies of LORs. On their website, they say "Apply by submitting the items listed below in one complete packet." I somehow misplaced one of my letters, one of my absolute WORST fears. The letter writer is out of the country for break, but said she could have our department coordinator print out a copy of the letter on January 4 when our campus opens back up. The due date for the application is also January 4, and I'm sure Penn State is also closed until then, so asking their dept. coordinator probably isn't worthwhile.

My question is this: do I send "one complete packet" a day late (January 5) OR do I send a packet with everything except the late letter?

I would send what you have and also send out an email alerting them to the missing letter.

While they might not respond, I think you have good odds that they will read your email before then.

[captiv8ed]

I would send what you have and also send out an email alerting them to the missing letter.

While they might not respond, I think you have good odds that they will read your email before then.

Can you fax the complete packet on the 4th?

[keylimekai]

Can't fax LORs, waived my right to see them, plus they need to be signed and sealed.