best way to nudge a prof..

[acl3623]

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back in april i asked my non-science prof to write me a letter. hes a cool guy and we had a good relationship but hes kinda intimidating. and reeaaallyy busy all the time. ive already reminded him once about my letter but now that i gotta send out secondaries it's gotta come in quick. this is the ****ty part about LOR's..how have you guys reminded profs without getting annoying??

 

[Fermata]

"The letter or your children."

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I'd write up the address or give him an envelope and info they needed, due date, etc and hand it to him, when you ask if he sent your LOR off yet. You could say "I knowhow busy you are, but did you get a chance yet to write my LOR? The schools need it by xxx." Ask if there's anything you can do for him to help him out: grade his papers, babysit his children, write it yourself and him sign it.... 😛

 

[PostalWookie]

The subtle way to do it is to send him a thank-you card. If you're lucky, he'll go "oh crap, gotta write that rec"

 

[vikaskoth]

This might not help the thread starter, but Asking for recs early on during your junior year so your profs wont be as busy. But if you need to push a prof, ask your pre-med advisor to send them an e-mail, maybe they will get a sense of urgency

 

[BlueMagpie]

It sounds like you gave your professor a long time to write the letter. I had a problem with one of my recommenders, initially I gave him a packet with everything he needed. Then I just sent him an e-mail every week thanking him and reminding him of the impending due date and closer to the date, a handwritten card. Granted, he asked me to remind him a lot, but since the guy agreed to do it, there's nothing wrong with reminding him that you're on a timetable.

Oh yeah, and I also wrote him an example of what I wanted so he wouldn't have to do so much work on it. Anyhow...

Good luck!

 

[DrHuang]

"Dear Dr. H,

I was wondering how the LoR was coming along. Hopefully, it hasnt been too much trouble for you!

Thanks!

-G.H
"

word for word what i send a coupla days ago

and yeah, send a thank you card. im including a starbucks gift card in mine

 

[acl3623]

the starbucks gift card is a money idea! i love it....yea i gave him a while to write it but hes really flighty, you guys are great...thanks all!

 

[kiwie07]

i had a similar problem...
i wrote the thank you card, emailed, called etc but they still didn't do it.

finally i explained to them about deadlines and how i was basically just waiting on their rec for my app...and then they wrote it. =D

also, if you're still at school or near your prof you should just go to their office and drop by...seeing you will definitely make them think "oh crap". =D

best of luck!!

 

[SFAJess]

i had a similar problem...
i wrote the thank you card, emailed, called etc but they still didn't do it.

finally i explained to them about deadlines and how i was basically just waiting on their rec for my app...and then they wrote it. =D

also, if you're still at school or near your prof you should just go to their office and drop by...seeing you will definitely make them think "oh crap". =D

best of luck!!

I was in the same situation with several of my profs...only 2 of mine turned theirs in by the date I specified (mid April and I asked them at the end of Jan, but I go to a small school.) At first I didn't want to bug them, but after awhile it started to really annoy me....I think it is okay to be persistent, but polite. I started off with the thank you note as a reminder, but eventually it came down to me checking with them each week and just being as sweet as I could be. Just keep checking on them or stop by their office for a question you have and "Oh, BTW, did you get my rec turned in yet?".

 

[FutureDocDO]

I agree with postalwookie. You should a thank you card. It's a nice way of reminding him/her without being in their face.

 

[dhoonlee]

.

 

[jlee9531]

i gave one of my professors 9 months to write one so that i would get it on time and he was still late by a month. consistent email reminders, thank you cards or a small thank you gift can also be effective as well.

 

[bariume]

My advice is to be extremely careful. This is a delicate thing to do. I once had a professor burn me badly. This chemistry professor at UCLA offered to write me a letter because I was one of the top 10 students in the class. I took her up on it, and waited 9 months. I reminded her only twice by email. I must have caught her at a bad time on one occasion because the final letter stated that I was "impatient" but that "she believed I would improve with my maturation." This was revealed to me at a med school interview. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the letter. I didn't think 9 months was being impatient...heck someone could've given birth in the same amount of time! So tread carefully!

 

[ambrosia]

It's to late for the OP, but what I found was that by asking them if they could have the letter written and sent to the career center within 3 weeks it always worked out nicely. I think that if you give them such a far-off deadline (anything over a month) then they completely forget about it. One of my reccomenders has mine in after only 4 days, and the longest it took was a month. That one I sent a reminder e-mail after 3 weeks when I saw he hadn't sent it yet, and he sent it promptly.