I asked for LOR - no response. What should I do?

[Estee7]

I asked the professor from my past university to write me a letter of recommendation five days ago, but I got no response yet. I know that 5 days is like nothing, he might be busy or on the holidays, but I am worried he doesn't want to write me the LOR and he is just silent for that fact.

I had one class with him for one semester, because I was finishing the university and he was there first year. I wasn't "super active" during his class, but still I was active and communicative. We also talked outside the class several times and he also had to write the opponent review for my MA thesis, so he should know my thinking etc. well. The thing is we haven't been in contact for almost three years and I asked him about LOR out of nowhere, explaining him my situation. I expressed the understanding that I know he is busy and I apologized for writing him during holiday season etc. I wrote him that his class helped me a lot and for this fact he came to my mind while I was thinking who to ask for LOR. 

Do you think I should wait next few days and then write him again, or is it better to try to "catch him" during his office hours? In case he decided to don't write me the LOR, would he tell me or he simply won't reply? 

 

[fuzzylogician]

It's summer. You wait, you try again, and in the meantime you do your very best not to make assumptions. I can't really promise he'll reply even if the answer is no, but I want to think that most people do. For emailing, it may be wise to wait until the beginning of the semester (i.e. the second+ week) to be sure he's back and not inundated in other emails and pressing matters. If you don't hear back at that point and this is your best option, if you can, you might try going to office hours. 

[Estee7]

1 hour ago, fuzzylogician said:

It's summer. You wait, you try again, and in the meantime you do your very best not to make assumptions. I can't really promise he'll reply even if the answer is no, but I want to think that most people do. For emailing, it may be wise to wait until the beginning of the semester (i.e. the second+ week) to be sure he's back and not inundated in other emails and pressing matters. If you don't hear back at that point and this is your best option, if you can, you might try going to office hours. 

Yeah, you are right...the problem is that I asked him quite late, I need to have the letter till 1st September  but it is my mistake...

[fuzzylogician]

38 minutes ago, Estee7 said:

Yeah, you are right...the problem is that I asked him quite late, I need to have the letter till 1st September  but it is my mistake...

Oh, I see. I assumed that this was for grad school applications with ~December deadlines. For this kind of pressing deadline you might try calling Monday morning and asking the office administrator if the Prof is generally around or on vacation. If he is around, you might just try dropping by and hoping he is around. You may have to try more than once, but there is a decent chance that people will be starting to come back from vacation around this time if they are going to start teaching in September. But yes, this is last-minute, and probably not something anyone would appreciate having to do on such short notice and at an otherwise already busy time of year. If and when you do get in touch with him, make sure you do everything you can to help him write the letter: come prepared to give him a bullet-point list of what you hope could be in the letter, a description of what you are applying for and why you are a good fit for it, a copy of the SOP, a summary of your thesis and his report (which he could probably find on his own, but save him the time!), anything else relevant to his letter. He may or may not want any of this, but offer it and see what he says. 

[Warelin]

On a side note: Did you ask in a way that allows the professor to say whether or not he believes he can or cannot write you a strong letter of recommendation?

[fuzzylogician]

6 minutes ago, Warelin said:

On a side note: Did you ask in a way that allows the professor to say whether or not he believes he can or cannot write you a strong letter of recommendation?

While this is generally advisable, it sounds like in this case the OP is well aware of the limitations of this potential letter and wants it anyway. I wouldn't ask someone who you already know can only write something quite limited if they can write you a strong letter; you already know the answer. 

[Estee7]

19 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

Oh, I see. I assumed that this was for grad school applications with ~December deadlines. For this kind of pressing deadline you might try calling Monday morning and asking the office administrator if the Prof is generally around or on vacation. If he is around, you might just try dropping by and hoping he is around. You may have to try more than once, but there is a decent chance that people will be starting to come back from vacation around this time if they are going to start teaching in September. But yes, this is last-minute, and probably not something anyone would appreciate having to do on such short notice and at an otherwise already busy time of year. If and when you do get in touch with him, make sure you do everything you can to help him write the letter: come prepared to give him a bullet-point list of what you hope could be in the letter, a description of what you are applying for and why you are a good fit for it, a copy of the SOP, a summary of your thesis and his report (which he could probably find on his own, but save him the time!), anything else relevant to his letter. He may or may not want any of this, but offer it and see what he says. 

Thank you so much for your advice. I am a bit worry that he will be upset that I am asking him so late, but I until recently I didnt know if I will get the invitation letter from the host institution and things were complicated. But I got the invitation letter so I am trying to fill in the scholarship application plus obtain the LORs. I already have two and I also asked this professor because we got along well. Anyway, I absolutely don't want him to feel pushed to do something he doesn't want do or can't do - if he can't write LOR for any reason, I understand it. But I will try to do it as you wrote and I will see. 

 

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, he will likely not appreciate being asked at the last minute like this, but given the story you tell, that is unavoidable. Hopefully you explained the situation and were apologetic in your email. As long as you say something like "I understand if this is too last minute and you are unable to help me" or some such, giving him a respectful out, I think you should be fine. Just make sure you follow up as soon as you can, to leave him as much time as possible to do it if he says yes, and for you to find another last-minute replacement if he says no. 

[Estee7]

17 minutes ago, Warelin said:

On a side note: Did you ask in a way that allows the professor to say whether or not he believes he can or cannot write you a strong letter of recommendation?

Hmmm....I'm not sure  But I think he is able to write a strong letter of recommendation. I asked him in a polite way "do you think you could write the LOR for me?" 

[Estee7]

1 hour ago, fuzzylogician said:

Yes, he will likely not appreciate being asked at the last minute like this, but given the story you tell, that is unavoidable. Hopefully you explained the situation and were apologetic in your email. As long as you say something like "I understand if this is too last minute and you are unable to help me" or some such, giving him a respectful out, I think you should be fine. Just make sure you follow up as soon as you can, to leave him as much time as possible to do it if he says yes, and for you to find another last-minute replacement if he says no. 

Yeah, I was apologetic, but I hope it was enough. But now I am thinking if it is better to write him an email again, sending him all papers you wrote about, apologize again and ask if I can meet him during his office hours (if he has some next week), or if it is better to let it be like that and just call to office administrator and see the situation. 

Uhh, I really don't like "pushing" people like that