<p>As I plan to apply to about 10 grad programs, I wonder if I am bothering my professors too much to go through the whole recommendation thing. How does the online recommendation work? The writer only needs to upload a generic letter of recommendation or do they have to take time fill in the evaluation form specific to each school?
Is it any more convenient for them to do it onlne in comparison to the traditional mailing method?</p>
<p>I think it might be slightly more convenient to do it online, especially since there’s no worry of a letter not getting there.</p>
<p>I know some schools have different recommendation forms than others. Some will have a whole bunch of questions where professors rate you from 1-10 or whatever, some will have short answers, and some will just have a spot to upload a recommendation letter. You can get a good idea of what they’re going to ask them by looking at their mail-in version of the survey (if schools still even provide it).</p>
<p>Usually, it’s easier for your profs to do the online recommendations because all they have to do is cut-and-paste or attach the file of their already completed recommendation. They may have to check off a few boxes, as RacinReaver says, that rate your qualities for grad school; however, those only take a few seconds.</p>
<p>It’s a bigger deal to print out, put the recommendation in an envelope, and mail it.</p>
<p>For the record, grad schools make it easier for the LOR writers than they do for the students. While you, as an applicant, may have to write several essays that will change from application to application, programs don’t make that kind of demand on professors.</p>
<p>As for the applying to 10 schools thing, professors know requests like these are part of the process - they will not mind.</p>
<p>All the above comments sum up whatever I wanted to say. As an international student living in the US, the online recommendation process has made it very easy for me to contact my profs and collect reco letters. This may not be the case if your professor is in a country with limited internet/computer access. In such cases, it may actually be easy to visit them, get the letter printed, signed and vanish forever. </p>
<p>Only tip I’d like to add is try to get an official email address for your recommender. Not something like drdna at yahoo dot etc. I had some trouble doing this as two of my recommenders did not have official emails. These recommendations may be additionally screened by the university.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Try but it’s not absolutely necessary unless the letter requirements specifically state they want a professional email (1 school for me did). As far as non-professional emails getting screened, I think that’s hogwash. If the status of the letter says Received or Submitted on your status, then the letter went through and your application is complete. </p>
<p>My industry supervisor changed jobs/quit and when he did, I had to use his personal email for his remaining letters. No issues so far.</p>