When I graduated from college in May 2007 I was pretty sure that I would continue onto grad school and had 2 professors agree to write me letters of recommendation. One of them was someone whose psych lab I worked in, and the other was my adviser in a non-psych major (but he know me really well). I can't really ask any other psych professors because the department had a really high turnover rate while I was there. I had THREE major advisors, and most of the people I took classes with aren't there anymore. Fortunately, I can definitely get 1, possibly 2 letters from my current research job.

I originally thought that I was going to be applying to grad school last year. I ended up not doing this because I wanted more time to work on research projects and take some night classes. It was a good idea because I feel so much more prepared and motivated now. I emailed the profs last year and let them know the situation. Here's the problem: I wrote both of them again this morning to update them and ask if they were still able to write letters since now I am certain that I will be applying. I got an automated out of office reply from 1 of them saying that she's on leave until January 2010. I'm pretty sure she's on maternity leave. I don't want to go into full panic mode yet-- maybe she'll still get in touch and be able to write the letter-- but there really isn't anyone from my undergrad psych program who could write a good letter, which is why I approached her so early on in the process. Would it be appropriate to get in touch with the department secretary in a month if I don't hear anything? I definitely don't want to hound her but I'm going to need to get a back-up plan in place in case I lose this letter. :scared:

that's odd... i'm sure she would still check her email, lol! she's not going to check her email until Jan 2010?

Well I can you can always try to leave a voice message on her office phone or if need be find out her personal info from the secretary. that's weird though...

Yeah, I know a lot of professors who have been on maternity leave or what have you but still checked their email.

I'd give it a few weeks and if you haven't heard anything by early September, I think it's fine to call the program secretary, explain the situation, and ask if there's an alternate way of contacting the prof.

Thanks. Who knows, maybe she'll write me back in a few days. If not, I'll wait until I have a chance to contact the dept. secretary. I'm sure she'll check her email at some point in the next five months. But selfish as it may sound, I really hope that she'll still be able to put together a letter before the beginning of December!

Not selfish at all! Good luck.

Okay, crisis averted-- she had her baby! She won't be able to write the letter for another month or two but said she would do it. Phew!