Letter of Recommendation Thank You

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ccladybird

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Hi all,
I have recently applied to four graduate schools, along with (at this point) 3 different jobs in the area. I have used kind of the same pool of people for each school and also the positions. I wrote a handwritten thank you and mailed them earlier in the year (December/January) but since then I have had to keep in contact with the LOR-ers to make sure xyz is completed. Should I send a follow up thank you for all of their help? Should I wait to see if I get in anywhere to do so..? And if so, what should I do to say thank you? I feel like a second letter is a bit much, but I'm not exactly rolling in the dough. They live states away so it would have to be via mail.

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I think it's appropriate to be in touch once you accept a position or figure out what the result of all this is. Either e-mail them to let them know and thank them again, or, you could get them a little something indicative of that place you're moving, e.g. you move to seattle- send some starbucks coffee. I sent my letter writers a little box of my favorite chocolate. Remember that you will probably use these people again for references, so you want to be nice.
 
A hand written note/card is a nice gesture. Part of the job of being a professor/supervisor/etc. is the letter writing, though it is still nice to get a note and update. As for chocolates or something…don't feel obligated to send something. I actually prefer getting an update from a student more than anything that they'd send me. It also avoids nut allergies or nutrition restrictions, etc.
 
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I love getting cards from students. Writing a (good) letter of rec can be really time consuming and there is no real professional benefit from it other than seeing a student succeed, so getting some acknowledgement is a nice thing. I've certainly appreciated the gift cards (Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts) and small gifts I have received as well. This year I had a student send me a really thoughtful package with a few small gifts that were clearly carefully chosen, and that was super nice! Still, I agree with others that the note/update is the most important.
 
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I do plan on sending a note and letting them know (if, fingers crossed) where I was accepted and where I plan to go. I saw someone wrote that they sent their LOR's tee shirts from the schools, to which I thought I could maybe send a coffee mug? I saw someone else sent books, which I could also send but I mean they might not particularly care for whatever I sent. As far as gift cards go, is $10 too cheap? I have 4+ people I want to send things to. Also, they all live states away so whatever it is will be mailed. Thank you all for your feedback!
 
Tee shirts seem a little too personal to me. And who knows if they would actually wear a shirt for a school they have no affiliation with. Coffee mugs are safe bets. So are gift cards, and no I think $10 is very nice.
 
I gave a bottle of wine (not super expensive but not the cheapo brand either) to all my LOR writers in the past. It seemed warranted given the number of schools I applied to and the fact that each of them had different instructions.
 
@bostongal109 thank you for your input! @MiniLop I like that idea, but I have to mail whatever it is. The only address I have for one LOR-er is their work address, which is at a University. I'm not sure how kosher that is? The somewhat ironic thing is I helped a study they were heavily involved in on alcohol and cognition :laugh:
 
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