One of my referees was notified more than 3 weeks before the application deadline for one school I applied to. I reminded them via email 1 week before the deadline, and received no response. Then I reminded them 2 days before the deadline of the importance of submitting on time. They got back to me and said this is the last school they will submit to and that they don’t have any more time for this. They didn’t even look at the submission form until I reminded them right before the deadline. I know since on my application it tells me whether they have seen the form. For weeks they didn’t touch it and didn’t respond to my emails. My other referees submitted their letters weeks ago. For another school with earlier deadlines I submitted 3 weeks before the deadline and this person submitted 3 weeks AFTER the deadline without responding to any of my requests or reminders. For some other schools, the references were due a few weeks after the application deadline, and they submitted near the end.
I first came to them around one month before I applied to anywhere. They said they would do it and I gave them all the supporting materials they wanted to write a letter, and a rough approximation of when my first deadlines were. Now, after weeks of not doing anything and no reply from this professor, this person has basically told me to go ask someone else if I am going to apply to more places. So far they have done 6 of my applications. I was about to apply to 1-2 more backup schools with deadlines in March-April but I don’t think that’s possible since I no longer have enough referees. My desired future career is on the line and this person only tells me towards the end that they won’t be doing any more applications.
So this is pretty much my last chance, my last bet. If I don’t get in this cycle this is likely the end of my journey for an academic career. So far I have no response from anywhere. I can’t possibly ask this referee again and I don’t want to after having gone through hell hoping and hoping that they submit at least something and after reading that sort of reply from them. There is nobody else I can ask. All I can do is hope that I will be able to get in somewhere with funding. Whenever I try to get up, life keeps pounding me in the ass and reminding me that I’m just a worthless peasant who can’t succeed in life. It’s as if God himself, if there is one, doesn’t want me to follow my desired course in life.
For the record, the general standard of notice for professors is 6-8 weeks before you need a letter. There’s a couple reasons for that: 1) professors are getting asked to write recommendations all at the same time - it’s not really spaced out over the year like in other fields - so they may need more time; and 2) professors are notoriously flaky.
That said, though, it’s not uncommon for a professor to say they can’t write or can only write for a certain number of schools. You always need to have backup writers. Professors are actually pretty flaky about recommendation letters (I had one professor not submit a recommendation for two of my schools without telling me, and another professor submitted my recommendation for the NSF fellowship a week late. Thankfully, she called up the committee and convinced them to accept it anyway). This is why it’s a good idea for prospective graduate students to cultivate 5-6 potential letter writers, and why some programs allow you to specify 1-2 more recommenders than you actually need just in case.
Why is there nobody else you can ask? And why do you think this cycle is the end of your journey, if you don’t get in?
There is nobody else I can ask (if I want to get a strong LOR) because I don’t know any other professor well enough in my old department, aside from those who I took one two two classes with. My senior advisor already declined to write me a letter on the basis that I have been out of school for a year and a half and that they have no time for me, even though I had asked months ahead of time. I now have 2 LOR writers and only 1 of them from a professor I have done research with. And even then they asked me to write a template for them to work with so I have no idea how much of the final letter is in their own words. This is my last chance realistically because I don’t have enough letters, and I don’t have enough strong letters.
On top of that:
I don’t have any experience in the subfield I want to study.
It’s been a while (over 2 years) since I left school so I have undoubtedly forgotten a lot of the things I have learned in my major. Why would the committee pick me over senior undergraduates or fresh graduates, especially those with a strong research background?
There is no research oriented job in my area of interest in my country.
There is no research oriented job in general for my major.
I am working in industry, but I am not doing anything related to research or to my major and I can’t because of (3) and (4).
On thegradcafe, I have seen results where people with 2+ years research experience, 1-2 published papers, and some internships get rejected from decent schools for a MASTERS. Not top schools (as in top 10), decent schools and they get rejected for a Masters, not a PhD. I have like 1 year of research experience max (if you can really call it that), and zero published papers. What chance do I have?
Without funding, I can’t afford a Masters. The only thing I can hope for is a funded thesis based Masters program. I’ll need to work at least another 4 years to be able to cover the average full price of a Masters degree. I might as well just do another undergraduate degree in a closely related field because that will be cheaper. The only option is to apply for a PhD at some unknown school.
Anyone can see that with this background and these credentials, there is no hope for me.
You shouldn’t really use gradcafe to gauge your chances. Like this website, there’s a LOT of people that don’t post their stats and results and they are more likely to do so when they feel confident about their credentials. I’m certain people from all kinds of backgrounds get into PhD programs. Just because someone with a “perfect” application didn’t get in doesn’t mean that the standard is that high or higher. Grad school is really about fit and a lot of really good candidates get rejected all the time because they didn’t really fit with the school’s research, mission, etc. People can be excellent on paper and still not have a good personal statement, which is one of the most important factors. I have friends with excellent credentials that didn’t get into a top school but got into another one, or got rejected from lower tier schools but got into Harvard-caliber schools. It’s definitely NOT a crapshoot, but there is some sort of unpredictability involved and who you are as a person and what you can bring matters more than your GPA/GRE.
It’s also important to ask what kind of schools are you applying to. Are you only applying to top programs? Are you willing to compromise going to a prestigious school to reach your goal? Though it’s hard, sometimes these kinds of decisions have to be made.
On a side note, what are your research interests? Are you limiting yourself by saying you only want to go into a niche field? Have you looked into research technician positions in the US? I don’t think they all have a citizenship requirement.