For all those who have encountered similar problems...

[La Miraflorina]

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Fellow SDNers, I seem to have found myself in a delicate situation and I desperately need some advice, preferably from peeps who have perhaps experienced the same:

I graduated from college about 3 years ago and have been working in a field unrelated to my major for the last 2 years... (reason being that I'm currently living in a foreign country and when I arrived here, I didn't know the language well enough to work in my field.)

Upon deciding I wanted to go to medical school, I got myself re-connected with my college's pre-med committee, got myself an advisor, etc etc etc... BUT I'm having trouble getting letters of recommendation. It's absolutely required of the pre-med committee that I get a LOR from at least one prof. in my major. Trouble is, ALL but two profs from my department who have taught me have left the college!

Here's the problem: I wrote the prof. who taught me for three semesters a fairly long email telling her what I've been doing with my life, my future plans and then I asked her for a letter. I did well in her classes and was friendly with her outside of class so when I didn't get any response for over a month, I wrote a follow-up email. And?? You got it. No response.

Yesterday, I wrote the one other prof. in my department who taught me only 1 semester senior year. I did really well in his class, but don't know him as well as the other prof. And... as of yet, there is no response.

My question for you all is, what should I do if, in a week from now, I still have no responses from either prof? Should I send hard copies of my requests through snail mail? Should I call them personally all the way from overseas? Should I give up and try to hunt down old profs who no longer work for the college? 😕

 

[saki0005]

Fellow SDNers, I seem to have found myself in a delicate situation and I desperately need some advice, preferably from peeps who have perhaps experienced the same:

I graduated from college about 3 years ago and have been working in a field unrelated to my major for the last 2 years... (reason being that I'm currently living in a foreign country and when I arrived here, I didn't know the language well enough to work in my field.)

Upon deciding I wanted to go to medical school, I got myself re-connected with my college's pre-med committee, got myself an advisor, etc etc etc... BUT I'm having trouble getting letters of recommendation. It's absolutely required of the pre-med committee that I get a LOR from at least one prof. in my major. Trouble is, ALL but two profs from my department who have taught me have left the college!

Here's the problem: I wrote the prof. who taught me for three semesters a fairly long email telling her what I've been doing with my life, my future plans and then I asked her for a letter. I did well in her classes and was friendly with her outside of class so when I didn't get any response for over a month, I wrote a follow-up email. And?? You got it. No response.

Yesterday, I wrote the one other prof. in my department who taught me only 1 semester senior year. I did really well in his class, but don't know him as well as the other prof. And... as of yet, there is no response.

My question for you all is, what should I do if, in a week from now, I still have no responses from either prof? Should I send hard copies of my requests through snail mail? Should I call them personally all the way from overseas? Should I give up and try to hunt down old profs who no longer work for the college? 😕

To answer all of your questions: YES!
You need to get all your options covered and so I would suggest you do everythingyou mentioned above. Good luck

 

[oniwindu]

My question for you all is, what should I do if, in a week from now, I still have no responses from either prof? Should I send hard copies of my requests through snail mail? Should I call them personally all the way from overseas? Should I give up and try to hunt down old profs who no longer work for the college? 😕

None of my profs have left the school, so I haven't exactly been in your situation, but I did have profs who did not answer my request right away because they were travelling, had conferences, personal absences, etc...ALL OF THOSE!! So I did have to call them up and find out what was going on with them.

But anyway, I would find out from your school their current contact information, and then call them up. If you don't get to talk to them personally when you call, leave a voicemail if possible, and then call the department secretary and ask them to leave a note in the professor's mailbox (i hope the prof's are still teaching!). Also ask the secretary if they know what the professor's schedule is like or the reason why they have been unable to answer your requests. You might be able to get some information from the secretary to allay your fears. I would also, as you said, send them hard copies of your request via snail mail at the same time. When you talk to your profs, you can mention that they can expect a package of information that would help them with writing your reccommendation.

Try calling first. I know I had to call my profs constantly for about 1.5 weeks before I could "catch" them. DOn't be afraid to leave multiple voicemails, too. I certainly did that (in a nice way. I made an effort not sound like a jacka**) and my profs did not get "mad" or "annoyed" at me. I don't think they are avoiding you (I initially thought mine were). They just get very very busy and have so many things going on at once . Good luck with this!

 

[evajaclynn]

I was in a similar situation and contacted professors that I knew who no longer worked for the college. It wasn't a problem at all in my case.

I remember trying to track down this teacher who had taught me years before. When I contacted the school, they gave me her ex-husband's phone number to try to reach her! With no other choice, I called him and he was kind and gave me her phone number. I called her and sent her two emails, and never received a response. Some people just don't want to be found I guess!

That was off topic, but I would give the professor that you contacted just yesterday a little more time to get in touch with you. If they don't, then go ahead and try to contact the professors that have left the college. If you are closer with the persons who have left the college, they also might be able to write you better LORs. Good luck!

 

[CarleneM]

I contacted a prof who had recently left the college. Luckily, I knew where he went and just looked up his address on that college's web site. I would contact as many as possible, but save your big guns (ie calling from overseas) for the prof who knew you best and only if they don't respond in a timely fashion. I think its very common to get a rec from someone who has since moved to another academic institution since people move around a lot in academia until they get tenure. no one on my pre med commitee ever questioned it.

good luck!

 

[Khenon]

One of my profs is still at the university, but I can't use him because he gave me a bad reference in the past! Yikes! Anyway, you have to settle, and get someone else. You can't wait forever to hear from those others profs . . . chances are they don't want to write you a letter, and that's why they're not getting back with you. You could call them, just to make sure they got your message, but I would be learly about using these people. Even if you only took one class from someone, you can still use them as a reference. Give them your resume, and write a brief summary of your current activities, etc. If you can just find someone who wants to write you a letter, they can write you a good one, even if they don't know you as well. Best of luck!