Dealing with no response to LOR request

[charmedj7]

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Any advice on how to tactfully poke a professor again to at least give a yay or nay response? I was thinking something along the lines of "Hi Dr. X, Just wanted to check in with you to see if you had received my email and have had a chance to consider my request. I hope you will be able to help me out, but either way please let me know."

*Note: I do fully realize it would be better to go in person than email, but unfortunately that is not an option for me because my undergraduate university is out of the country. I also realize that the BEST letters come from profs that really know me and passionately want me to succeed and will fall over themselves to write me a letter, in which categories these people obviously do not fall, however, there is little to be done for it at this point as I am several years out of school.

I really just want a letter to officially meet the 3 academic requirement, and I'll have to bank on the strength of my more relevant letters as well as the rest of my application.

 

[FattySlug]

Any advice on how to tactfully poke a professor again to at least give a yay or nay response? I was thinking something along the lines of "Hi Dr. X, Just wanted to check in with you to see if you had received my email and have had a chance to consider my request. I hope you will be able to help me out, but either way please let me know."

*Note: I do fully realize it would be better to go in person than email, but unfortunately that is not an option for me because my undergraduate university is out of the country. I also realize that the BEST letters come from profs that really know me and passionately want me to succeed and will fall over themselves to write me a letter, in which categories these people obviously do not fall, however, there is little to be done for it at this point as I am several years out of school.

I really just want a letter to officially meet the 3 academic requirement, and I'll have to bank on the strength of my more relevant letters as well as the rest of my application.

I think the reminder that you have in mind sounds right. I would have done the same thing if unable to come in in person. Maybe try to call him also? Leave a voice mail or whatever.

 

[mirimonster]

Any advice on how to tactfully poke a professor again to at least give a yay or nay response? I was thinking something along the lines of "Hi Dr. X, Just wanted to check in with you to see if you had received my email and have had a chance to consider my request. I believe that a letter of recommendation from you would greatly improve my application to medical school. I understand that you are probably very busy, so if you are unable to write a letter on my behalf, please let me know within the next week. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you. Thank you so much for time...."

*Note: I do fully realize it would be better to go in person than email, but unfortunately that is not an option for me because my undergraduate university is out of the country. I also realize that the BEST letters come from profs that really know me and passionately want me to succeed and will fall over themselves to write me a letter, in which categories these people obviously do not fall, however, there is little to be done for it at this point as I am several years out of school.

I really just want a letter to officially meet the 3 academic requirement, and I'll have to bank on the strength of my more relevant letters as well as the rest of my application.

How long has it been since the first request? I would give them at least a week with summer vacation to respond. What you wrote is probably fine, I might change it something along the lines of what I bolded. Re-attach any and all of the letter of rec information that you had included in the first email so that they don't have to dig around looking for that email again. Make sure you thank them for their time. I make it a point to have the words "thank you" in every single communication with a letter of rec writer. Sounding entitled will get you in trouble, so just be very conscientious that you sound gracious.

 

[GNE24]

Any advice on how to tactfully poke a professor again to at least give a yay or nay response? I was thinking something along the lines of "Hi Dr. X, Just wanted to check in with you to see if you had received my email and have had a chance to consider my request. I hope you will be able to help me out, but either way please let me know."

*Note: I do fully realize it would be better to go in person than email, but unfortunately that is not an option for me because my undergraduate university is out of the country. I also realize that the BEST letters come from profs that really know me and passionately want me to succeed and will fall over themselves to write me a letter, in which categories these people obviously do not fall, however, there is little to be done for it at this point as I am several years out of school.

I really just want a letter to officially meet the 3 academic requirement, and I'll have to bank on the strength of my more relevant letters as well as the rest of my application.

Oh god...I know what you are going through. I understand completely that you want to obtain a letter from a past professor, but I know that medical schools strongly consider letters from employers and volunteer managers since those would be the most recent. I am sure if you contacted the medical schools of your choice they would tell you that letters from these sources would strongly suffice. I only have so much knowledge concerning this situation, but I know for a fact that most non-trads like you and myself can't honestly be expected to obtain great letters from relationships that occured 2+ years ago.

 

[mirimonster]

Oh god...I know what you are going through. I understand completely that you want to obtain a letter from a past professor, but I know that medical schools strongly consider letters from employers and volunteer managers since those would be the most recent. I am sure if you contacted the medical schools of your choice they would tell you that letters from these sources would strongly suffice. I only have so much knowledge concerning this situation, but I know for a fact that most non-trads like you and myself can't honestly be expected to obtain great letters from relationships that occured 2+ years ago.

I went through the same thing, but unfortunately many medical schools have specific professor requirements that they only waive if you've been out of school for a significant period of time (A few that I've seen specify ~5 years out). I think OP has the right idea, get the necessary ones, add in a few really good recent ones, and just be sure of the LOR requirements for each individual school. Only use weak ones where they're absolutely required.

 

[Nebby]

I went through the same thing, but unfortunately many medical schools have specific professor requirements that they only waive if you've been out of school for a significant period of time (A few that I've seen specify ~5 years out). I think OP has the right idea, get the necessary ones, add in a few really good recent ones, and just be sure of the LOR requirements for each individual school. Only use weak ones where they're absolutely required.

When I don't receive return correspondence via e-mail, I call. You might have a better chance that way. Plus, you don't have to wait for a reply. Good luck! 👍

 

[charmedj7]

Thanks for the replies. I will try to nudge again today with the revised version submitted above and see what happens. I have another couple I can try if still no go, and if worse comes to worst I can try to get a letter from a course I'm starting next week... In the mean time I'll just submit to places without that requirement.

I had heard that schools were generally more forgiving on academic letters for non-trads, but I haven't found that to be the case unless as said above, it has been >5 years. Oh well 🙄