<p>Has anyone else been having a hard time getting recommendations for grad school? Over the past month or so, several of my professors enthusiastically agreed to write recommendations for me. I gave them the instructions, materials, etc. and reminded them of the deadline well in advance. However, even with the deadline getting super close I know that one instructor has not even began the letter and I do not believe she will ever begin it. The other one claimed that she sent her letter in, but the graduate program says otherwise. I am thinking that I will have to forget this graduate program now, thanks to these recommenders not doing what they said they did/were going to do. Thankfully, it was not one of my top choices. I am now worried about how I can prevent the same thing from happening when applying to other graduate programs in the future. Has anyone else had this problem in getting recommendations from professors? If so, how did you handle it and what did you do to get them to go ahead and send the recommendation?</p>
<p>You can never prevent this. It happens to everyone. Professors, like students, are excellent procrastinators. Just give them a one week, then a day-before reminder if they still aren’t in. I’ve had a professor literally turn in a letter two minutes before the deadline, and another where I actually went to his home so I could help him navigate the online system to turn it in. Make sure to write them a thank you note (for the ulcer).</p>
<p>This happened to me as well. Just give them a friendly reminder. One of my recommenders needed a weekly reminder for about three weeks before he finally finished his letters. His letter was late for all but one of my programs, one was 5 weeks late. Luckily, it didn’t impact my acceptances, and I even got admitted to two programs before he submitted his letter. I think professors know what it’s like to write letters and most won’t hold it against you if your recommenders are slow. It happens.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! It’s good to know that I am not the only one who has had this problem. I don’t have a lot of confidence that their not sending the letters in time will not affect my chance of being accepted into this particular program. However, having this happen has been a learning experience for when it comes time to apply to other programs. Next time, I am giving them a fictitious “deadline” that is well in advance of the actual deadline and consistently emailing them until they hopefully send the recommendations. </p>
<p>As far as writing them thank you notes, did you guys wait to see if they actually sent the recommendation before sending out thank you notes?</p>
<p>I waited to send thank you letters until the online system had marked them received. But, all of my letters were submitted online, so I knew instantly. Some programs take over a month to show snail mail as received.</p>