How soon is too soon to follow up with writers about their letter?

[yochapa]

Pretty much as the title says, but how soon is too soon to ask a professor how their letter is coming? For example, I sent a professor a request for recommendation about 8 days ago (after telling him to check his email and his spam box for it) and he hasn't yet even accepted the request. I figure he might just accept the request and write the whole letter in one sitting when he gets a chance, but when would it be appropriate to check in to see if he received the request?

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

It's too soon. As long as they agreed to write this letter for you before you sent the request, don't freak out. Do they have all the information they need from you? When is the deadline for the app?

Remember that your writers are busy people. Part of the reason we request letters months in advance is so they can work it into their schedules, not so they can finish our letters weeks before the apps are due.

From my own experience, I have one writer who has finished and submitted all her letters because she's got her own personal deadline (going on sabbatical so needs to finish all her tasks by a certain date). I have another who will probably submit all of his in October or November. My third submits each letter on the day of the deadline. I know this because they all submitted letters for me last year (so I know what to expect). The point is that all letter writers are different and it's best not to assume the worst case scenario.

I tend to freak out as well. I think my plan will be to resend the unanswered requests Nov 1st and then send an email a week before the deadline asking if I should resend the request or if they need any other info from me (phrasing this in the nicest way possible, aka not asking why they haven't submitted yet).

[TommySotomayor]

I don't know what the deadline is for your program, but I know that getting letter writers to to update you on their progress can be frustrating.  For example, one letter writer literally finished writing his letter within a couple of days.  In contrast,  another letter writer rarely responded when I asked how the letter was coming, even when the deadline was less than a week away.  However, she had a newborn baby to take care of, but I saw her in the Psych Bldg. enough to know that she was merely putting my letter on the back burner.  In my opinion, this indicated one of two things:  1) She was so preoccupied with her newborn child that she did not feel like writing the letter (completely understandable, but still frustrating) or 2) she didn't think much of me as a prospective applicant, which is why she was so nonchalant about it (I find this unlikely given that I excelled in both of her courses, including the Senior Capstone course in which we conducted an original study...however, I never attended her lecture course but still received an "A").  This professor did end up submitting her letter, but not until the night before the deadline (which may indicate the quality of the letter).  Anyway, as I said before, I don't know your deadline, but if it is relatively close (within two weeks), it is very reasonable to either e-mail your professor, or, if you know his office hours, talk to him in person.  Of course, don't be confrontational, but make it clear that you're serious about this. 

Finally, your future is, in a sense, at stake, so don't be afraid to be assertive, but make sure to use proper tact.  

Best of luck!