Is 3 Weeks Too Little Time to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation?

[profhopes]

So, here's the deal. I asked for letters of recommendation Friday morning, December 23rd.  I am strictly applying to 2 schools with later application deadlines in my home state for the MA only.  (I decided to wait on adding details until I received a response from each potential recommender.)  I then realized the application deadline I thought was February 15th is actually January 15th.  I misread it; I know no excuses, just trying to decide what to do at this point.  (The other deadline isn't until February 28th, so I'm okay as far as that one.)

My options are as follows: 1. Ask profs. if they can put together a letter in 3 weeks, 2. Apply to the 3rd school I was considering (which I'm not keen on), but whose deadline is February 1st.  (1/3 profs. has written me a grad school letter in the past.  She's the 1 I haven't heard back from yet.)  2/3 professors e-mailed asking for more details on the 23rd, and I now have to decide what course of action to pursue.  What would you do?

[fuzzylogician]

Write them, apologize, and say you misread the details of school X's application and the deadline is actually January 15. Say you wanted to draw their attention to it as soon as you noticed, and you hope you aren't causing too much of an inconvenience. I wouldn't even ask if they can make it, and just assume that it'll be okay. Three weeks isn't a whole lot of time, but there is usually some additional grace period for LORs so they may have a month+ to get it done. If they miss the deadline and don't submit until much later, you might then consider applying to that third school as well.

Just to get things straight, though, the real premium is on getting that first letter done. Once that's done, tweaking the letter isn't nearly as time consuming, so it doesn't matter much if you're applying to 2 schools or 8, or if it's an MA or PhD. I wouldn't mention anything about that in your email. 

[Autumn Springs]

I happen to see your post, so here's my opinion...

I completely agree with fuzzy...I don't think your profs will mind, but you have to be sincere and apologetic when informing them that the deadline is earlier than you mentioned. The thing is, some referees will wait until near the deadline to write the letters anyway, and they do not spend as much time writing their references as compared to us when writing motivation letters. So, don't be too worried in emailing them.

 

[TakeruK]

I agree with the above and want to add one thing that might help. Although the beginning of a new semester could be a busy time, the majority of a prof's letter writing burden would have been back in November/early December (at least in my field). Good luck!

[profhopes]

Thank you, everyone!