annoying profs!!

[KittycooMD]

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So I just wanna vent...2 out of 4 professors sent my rec letters a while ago...and the other two are lagging! It's now December and I'm STILL not complete ANYWHERE! I called the last two profs Sunday and one of them got annoyed at me and said, "Well you know, I have 75 others to write...but yours will be out on Tuesday. Ok, bye." They've all known for MONTHS! I told them in MAY!!!
Is anyone else in the same boat? I'm freaking out!!

 

[PugMD]

You may want to cut your losses and move on... try and find someone else that understands your situation, knows you a bit, and will write you a good letter. The last thing you want is to piss off the guy right before he puts you on paper and possibly f*cks up your standing with the ADCOM.

 

[airshad8]

So I just wanna vent...2 out of 4 professors sent my rec letters a while ago...and the other two are lagging! It's now December and I'm STILL not complete ANYWHERE! I called the last two profs Sunday and one of them got annoyed at me and said, "Well you know, I have 75 others to write...but yours will be out on Tuesday. Ok, bye." They've all known for MONTHS! I told them in MAY!!!
Is anyone else in the same boat? I'm freaking out!!

Sorry for your troubles. It seems people do get like that. I suppose I'd say that some consideration should be given to whom you pick for the letters. Most of the time, professors who are swamped with these letters i) Do them with delay and 2) Hardly put a lot of effort into them. Sure there are exceptions, but it seems reasonable to think if the professor is writing 75 letters, he/she is not going to make them that personal, or spend that much time on them.

Also, sometimes it just takes pushing them. One guy I had to get a letter from...I told him in April. My committee required the letters be in by the end of October. He still hadn't written it in spite of numerous calls and email reminders. So the night before the letters were due, I had to drive 200 miles to Boston, show up at the guy's place and basically go "Where my letter at, foo?". Surprisingly, it worked...and I drove back the same night to deliver that letter. Too bad I also had an AChem exam that morning which I did not get a chance to study for. But Oh- wells.

 

[coriannegirl]

I had a similar problem. I asked one of my profs to write me a rec last August. By May, he still didn't come through. It came down to him hiding from me every time he saw me, which was tough, considering I TAed his class (hence the request for a rec in the first place). I actually gave up on him and had to ask someone else who I knew was more prompt. New person had my letter out in less than a week. Maybe you could find someone else to write it?

 

[PEN15]

same thing happened to me. the thing was that this prof asked me if I needed a letter of recommendation for anything and said that he was happy to write me one if I ever needed it! I got fed up and asked my other professors to write me a letter and they were glad to do it! When I got into med school, I wrote him a long e-mail explaining to him how unprofessional he was.


I still have that letter saved in my inbox. If you're wondering if he wrote back.... he sure did!

 

[KittycooMD]

I don't have anyone else at this point! One of the laggers is my Advisor from undergrad and the other is my Organic Chem prof that knows me really well. Supposedly they both sent them in today, but I have no real way of knowing until I wait to hear from schools that I'm complete...or NOT...I graduated almost three years ago from college so I don't have any recent profs...grrr 😡

 

[MinnyGophers]

same thing happened to me. the thing was that this prof asked me if I needed a letter of recommendation for anything and said that he was happy to write me one if I ever needed it! I got fed up and asked my other professors to write me a letter and they were glad to do it! When I got into med school, I wrote him a long e-mail explaining to him how unprofessional he was.


I still have that letter saved in my inbox. If you're wondering if he wrote back.... he sure did!

I'm curious.... how did he respond?
Was he apologetic or pissed?

 

[babaghannough]

I'm curious.... how did he respond?
Was he apologetic or pissed?

i'd like to know how he responded as well.

 

[PEN15]

The subject of my e-mail to this professor was "Accepted to Med School" and this was what I wrote:

Well as it turns out, I didn't need a letter of recommendation from you afterall seeing as how I was accepted to a med school recently. I managed to get LORs from 2 of my professors at the University of Western Ontario and they were more than happy to write me one. In the future, if your students ask you for a letter of recommendation and you are unable to comply, it's best to just tell them upfront instead of telling them that you will get get back to them and then never do. In my case, it didn't matter because I had other options. However, realize that when your students ask you for something important such as this, it probably means that they highly respect you as a person and as a professor. By blowing them off without an explanation is just unprofessional.

_______

I was really pissed in the moment, but tried to convey myself as eloquently as possible.

 

[PEN15]

This was the professor's reply:

I hope everything goes well for you! I've actually written a number of letters for grad and undergrads this year and am trying to develop a policy regarding this, since quite frankly it is hard to track many requests of this type down. I understand you took offence at my lack of follow up but please don't take it as a personal slight. I am happy that you are heading in a career path of your choosing.
_______

I wasn't expecting him to write me back, but I'm glad he did becuase the whole situation was really stressful and it bothered the hell out of me for a while. Now I can put it behind me and move on. I just have this tendency to tell people how it is.

 

[MinnyGophers]

Took it well and responded well. That's awesome.

 

[Keyser112]

hey PEN15 which program are you at Western? Where did you get accepted? I'm doing a 5th year at Western right now and keeping fingers crossed for Wayne and some other US schools.

who were the profs??????? love to know

 

[PEN15]

hey PEN15 which program are you at Western? Where did you get accepted? I'm doing a 5th year at Western right now and keeping fingers crossed for Wayne and some other US schools.

who were the profs??????? love to know

Hey Keyser, I'm going to refrain from posting any names on this forum because I know it will bite me in the ass later on. I was in the chem/biochem program and then dropped to just chem because it was way too time consuming... it kind of ate into my partying time. But you're still getting a solid education at Western. I've found that a lot of American border cities, especially in the northeast have heard of Western and the kind of academically inclined graduates that it produces.

 

[Keyser112]

haha i hear ya
well good luck with the process.
i have heard from several docs that med schools in the US value Canadians because the quality of education (particularly Ontario) is comparable to the best schools in the US, save Harvard perhaps.

so even though we are out of country, the quality of education here is fantastic
(I guess that's why an 83% grade in any course from Western is a 4.0 on the AMCAS app!)

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

So I just wanna vent...2 out of 4 professors sent my rec letters a while ago...and the other two are lagging! It's now December and I'm STILL not complete ANYWHERE! I called the last two profs Sunday and one of them got annoyed at me and said, "Well you know, I have 75 others to write...but yours will be out on Tuesday. Ok, bye." They've all known for MONTHS! I told them in MAY!!!
Is anyone else in the same boat? I'm freaking out!!

Wow. That totally blows. We need to collect an assortment of cases such as yours and put as a sticky so that people can avoid situations like this.

When my profs were lagging (around a month after suggested deadline by office of premed), I kept calling and making sure things were rolling - of course with much patience and politeness as I could muster. Making them feel bad >> yelling at them.

Best of luck.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Too bad I also had an AChem exam that morning which I did not get a chance to study for. But Oh- wells.

Good lord.... that's intense.

Your hydroxide use is amusing.

 

[hp540]

haha i hear ya
well good luck with the process.
i have heard from several docs that med schools in the US value Canadians because the quality of education (particularly Ontario) is comparable to the best schools in the US, save Harvard perhaps.

so even though we are out of country, the quality of education here is fantastic
(I guess that's why an 83% grade in any course from Western is a 4.0 on the AMCAS app!)

hey, something like that at Queen's is equal to a 4.0 on AMCAS too 😛 it's so much easier for us Canadians to have 4.0 GPAs in the States 🙂

 

[airshad8]

hey, something like that at Queen's is equal to a 4.0 on AMCAS too 😛 it's so much easier for us Canadians to have 4.0 GPAs in the States 🙂

Is your school system really that much tougher? I know a few kids who go to Queens, and haven't ever heard them complaining.

 

[hp540]

Is your school system really that much tougher? I know a few kids who go to Queens, and haven't ever heard them complaining.

No. I don't think it's tougher at all.

As to why AMCAS is so generous with converting our grades over to yours, you have me beat. I'm not complaining though (although I'm not applying to the states).

 

[coralfangs]

education at western ontario is good? were u high when u talked to the ppl?
i've tutored some of the kids from western over the years, trust me, the material is just as easy as stuff taught at some lowertier state schools
i still think it's not fair that a 83% is a 4.0 for western students, not that i mind though
hell, even my PIs at UofT bashed about western ungdergrads

 

[Keyser112]

"i've tutored some kids at Western over the years"
... great sample

not EVERY course is harder, there are some courses that you wonder how they are even offered.. actually i transferred from the University of Toronto, and it makes Western look like pre-school

(you think your organic chemistry II exam was hard? look up the U of T's Orgo II exam and you'll see what I mean)

however, the grading system is a lot more difficult generally speaking in Canada (Ontario, anyway) than it is in most schools in the US. Our averages tend to be high 60's, low 70's.. at Western upper year science (3rd/4th year) have around 71% class averages and is about the norm.. at U of T it was about 66% - 68%

 

[Keyser112]

Western just has the reuptation of being a huge party school.. so there are tons of people here that just kill it for a year or two and then fail out. and then there are others with a much more balanced life.

i think that the profs are referring to the 'party school' repuatation.. however it's graduate research program, espeically in the sciences, is great

 

[hp540]

education at western ontario is good? were u high when u talked to the ppl?
i've tutored some of the kids from western over the years, trust me, the material is just as easy as stuff taught at some lowertier state schools
i still think it's not fair that a 83% is a 4.0 for western students, not that i mind though
hell, even my PIs at UofT bashed about western ungdergrads

oh man, let's dispense with the lame "my university is more hardcore than yours" stuff.

I thought you're supposed to have that out of your system after 1st year when you realize all the schools in Ontario (and probably Canada) are all pretty much the same.

 

[Keyser112]

i guess that means that harvard is the same as lameo-state school then right?

 

[coralfangs]

sure, blame it on the "party-school" reputation, i don't see mcgill having problems with that, in fact i think ur parties are overrated anyway (or maybe the ones i've been to sucked), i am glad i ain't studyin at a school in some hick town

actually, my profs were referring to several grad students from their departments who graduated from a few schools in ontario (im not gonna name names) and western ontario just happened to be one of them
they made very good points and gave good examples,
believe me, i'm not at all "jealous" of ur grades, i was just pointing out some of the "hearsay" (if u want to call it that way) i've heard about ur school
(it just annoys me when canadians are bragging how much harder our schools are comparing to the schools in the States)

ps: look who's talkin, "you think your organic chemistry II exam was hard? look up the U of T's Orgo II exam and you'll see what I mean"
no one here at UT ever complained about our orgo II exam, it's a dead giveaway because our test averages were so low


hps540, i didnt even touch your precious queen's, haha

 

[PEN15]

sure, blame it on the "party-school" reputation, i don't see mcgill having problems with that, in fact i think ur parties are overrated anyway (or maybe the ones i've been to sucked), i am glad i ain't studyin at a school in some hick town

actually, my profs were referring to several grad students from their departments who graduated from a few schools in ontario (im not gonna name names) and western ontario just happened to be one of them
they made very good points and gave good examples,
believe me, i'm not at all "jealous" of ur grades, i was just pointing out some of the "hearsay" (if u want to call it that way) i've heard about ur school
(it just annoys me when canadians are bragging how much harder our schools are comparing to the schools in the States)

ps: look who's talkin, "you think your organic chemistry II exam was hard? look up the U of T's Orgo II exam and you'll see what I mean"
no one here at UT ever complained about our orgo II exam, it's a dead giveaway because our test averages were so low


hps540, i didnt even touch your precious queen's, haha

blah blah blah, I'll take you seriously when you can muster some intelligence and get into Western med. Then you can start bashing Western and other Canadian schools.

Keyser is right, our averages hovered around a 60 and it's actually pretty tough to get an 80. When I applied to dental school last year, my 90s were considered 4.33 on the AADSAS scale. Western has a really good graduate program and they get quite a bit of reasearch money too.

 

[BNSN]

Aren't there only 10 or so major universities in Canada?

I assume all of them are of fairly high quality.

The ones I can think of are...

McGill (the most prestigious one)
McMaster
Toronto
Ontario

And that's all I've got.

 

[Stroganoff]

Today's the last day of lecture and I just got back my midterm exam (6 weeks later). Oh, and still no syllabus. On Day 1 she was like "Oh, my printer broke."

 

[Keyser112]

Actually I believe U of T is the most prestigeous school in Canada, and by quite a bit. Hoever McGill is an excellent school as well.

 

[Keyser112]

*prestigious

 

[MadHopsMD]

education at western ontario is good? were u high when u talked to the ppl?
i've tutored some of the kids from western over the years, trust me, the material is just as easy as stuff taught at some lowertier state schools
i still think it's not fair that a 83% is a 4.0 for western students, not that i mind though
hell, even my PIs at UofT bashed about western ungdergrads

what the hey? Are you serious. AMCAS gives UofT students a 3.7 for a 83%! Are you telling me Western students get 4 from AMCAS for a 83%.

My brother took classes at uwestern and uoft...and said western was "relatively easier". if it is true..it isnt fair hahaha. You have no idea how many 83% I have....

AND PEN15 where did you get accepted at?

 

[Keyser112]

Western is easier... i am pretty sure the 83% is a 4.0 if not it's a 3.9.. i think 3.7 is 80 - 83 for AMCAS

 

[MadHopsMD]

HEy pen15, your blogs pretty cool...some of the stuff is pretty funny...

 

[MadHopsMD]

Western is easier... i am pretty sure the 83% is a 4.0 if not it's a 3.9.. i think 3.7 is 80 - 83 for AMCAS

dam I just counted I have 4 courses where I got excatly 84%. If AMCAS used western grade scale, I would have gotten 3.78 from 3.72. haha shoot. everyone GO TO WESTERN for undergrad!!!!!!!!

 

[PEN15]

HEy pen15, your blogs pretty cool...some of the stuff is pretty funny...

hey sony, thanks!

Last year I applied to 10 US and Canadian dental schools. Out of the 10 US dental schools I applied to I only sent in 1 secondary fee LOL. I realized that I didn't want to be a dentist anymore. I graduated this spring and was like wtf am I going to do with my life. So I got my **** together, took the MCAT, and applied to Australian med schools because I didn't want to wait another year. I'm not getting any younger. I had already missed the deadline for American and Canadian med schools. I didn't think I was going to get in, but I took a chance and I will be going to Australia to start med school in January. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

 

[PEN15]

dam I just counted I have 4 courses where I got excatly 84%. If AMCAS used western grade scale, I would have gotten 3.78 from 3.72. haha shoot. everyone GO TO WESTERN for undergrad!!!!!!!!

Best school ever!!!

 

[hp540]

hey sony, thanks!

Last year I applied to 10 US and Canadian dental schools. Out of the 10 US dental schools I applied to I only sent in 1 secondary fee LOL. I realized that I didn't want to be a dentist anymore. I graduated this spring and was like wtf am I going to do with my life. So I got my **** together, took the MCAT, and applied to Australian med schools because I didn't want to wait another year. I'm not getting any younger. I had already missed the deadline for American and Canadian med schools. I didn't think I was going to get in, but I took a chance and I will be going to Australia to start med school in January. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Australia eh? Wow. I was speaking to some of their representatives a few weeks back when they were on campus - the tuition fees are PRICEY.

 

[coralfangs]

pfftzzz, u and ur western med again
why would i even consider western med, no offense, it's just ****ing boring there
the only two schools in canada that kind of interest me are mcgill and UT (cultural richness in the city is the most important factor for me)
in fact, i would give up anything for an acceptance to NYU (eg. if i were to have both acceptance to HMS and NYU, i would burn the letter from HMS)
haha, maybe i don't have much intelligence, but u can't stop a brother from having a good time here at nyc

why did u bring up western med anyway? haha

ps: plz read what others have posted too.....

blah blah blah, I'll take you seriously when you can muster some intelligence and get into Western med. Then you can start bashing Western and other Canadian schools.

Keyser is right, our averages hovered around a 60 and it's actually pretty tough to get an 80. When I applied to dental school last year, my 90s were considered 4.33 on the AADSAS scale. Western has a really good graduate program and they get quite a bit of reasearch money too.

 

[airshad8]

pfftzzz, u and ur western med again
why would i even consider western med, no offense, it's just ****ing boring there
the only two schools in canada that kind of interest me are mcgill and UT (cultural richness in the city is the most important factor for me)
in fact, i would give up anything for an acceptance to NYU (eg. if i were to have both acceptance to HMS and NYU, i would burn the letter from HMS)
haha, maybe i don't have much intelligence, but u can't stop a brother from having a good time here at nyc

why did u bring up western med anyway? haha

ps: plz read what others have posted too.....

Wait...there is culture...in Canada? when did that happen!?? J/M 😛

 

[coralfangs]

Wait...there is culture...in Canada? when did that happen!?? J/M 😛

not as much
that's why im trying to stick my ass here in nyc haha

 

[Keyser112]

FYI

Toronto is regarded as the most multi-cultural city in the world.

 

[coralfangs]

nah
multiculturalism doesnt necessarily give u a rich culture
what i meant by culture, i meant art/music

 

[Keyser112]

ah my mistake. however, Toronto still has incredible culture. it is the 5th largest city in North America something I didn't even know (and I'm Canadian) until not so long ago.. having lived there and been to NYC, NY does have more culture if even because the size of the city is so much larger, I don't think that can be argued.

 

[hp540]

ah my mistake. however, Toronto still has incredible culture. it is the 5th largest city in North America something I didn't even know (and I'm Canadian) until not so long ago.. having lived there and been to NYC, NY does have more culture if even because the size of the city is so much larger, I don't think that can be argued.

Toronto also happens to be boring, cold, and sterile - not to mention saddled with politicians with little ambition other than the status quo and can't get anything going or done properly at that (re: waterfront redevelopment, Gardiner Expressway debate, subway subway subway, 2008 Olympics bid as well as all sorts of other events, etc etc etc).

And Torontonians are always thinking it's a world class city haha. It doesn't even come close to really 'world class' cities like NYC or HK. And this is coming from someone who has spent a lot of time growing up in Toronto 🙂

 

[Keyser112]

Toronto also happens to be boring, cold, and sterile -
And Torontonians are always thinking it's a world class city haha. It doesn't even come close to really 'world class' cities like NYC or HK. And this is coming from someone who has spent a lot of time growing up in Toronto 🙂

ummm 2nd best night life in North America; have you ever been on richmond or adelaide rd in TO? - not my opinion but consensus.. maybe you are one of those people that are too socially deprived that you have yet to venture out of the library/study room to notice any of this?

I lived there for several years as well and it was amazing.

"world class" - i don't think that it compares to NYC or HK or Tokyo or several others.. but they also have like 10x the population

 

[Keyser112]

i love how our posts have nothing to do with the OP made here lol.
the stress of applying to medical school!!

 

[coralfangs]

ummm 2nd best night life in North America; have you ever been on richmond or adelaide rd in TO? - not my opinion but consensus.. maybe you are one of those people that are too socially deprived that you have yet to venture out of the library/study room to notice any of this?

I lived there for several years as well and it was amazing.

"world class" - i don't think that it compares to NYC or HK or Tokyo or several others.. but they also have like 10x the population

#1 learn ur geography
#2 maybe you are one of those naive people who think clubs on richmond or adelaide are the best things in the world,
it's pretty pathetic that this is all a student from hicktown can think about toronto's "cultural richness", it's not always about "dancing" fugily in some dark places with loud basses, i dont mind going clubbing once in a while, but there are a lot more for u to do in toronto
and ur trying to make fun of ppl cuz u think ur so cool for going to clubs?

 

[coralfangs]

i love how our posts have nothing to do with the OP made here lol.
the stress of applying to medical school!!

hahaha ya i knwo eh
its such sad
i am findin ways to stir up **** in any way possible just to pass time so that i dont have to face my papers yet

 

[Keyser112]

lol why are we even arguing about this haha i'm studying and laughing about this right now..

gl on your application process

 

[Cirrus83]

To OP, that sucks =(
I got my recs about a year and a half in advance though, and had them sent to a recommendation service, lol.

All except one reccomendation, which I ended up getting this summer...by phone.

Anyways, if you had them sent to a service it'll make reapplying easier on you since you won't have to track down your profs again.