Having trouble contacting old professors for LOR

[jango1222]

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I applied last cycle with 2 LOR from very well spoken professors. However, for this cycle, I cannot seem to get in touch with them to write yet another letter for me. I have been emailing them at their university emails (total of 4 emails) since July.

I'm not sure if they are too busy with their work or they are trying to tell me by not responding that they don't have time to write another letter. I was thinking of actually GOING IN and trying to catch them in their office, but I'm not sure if that crosses any line (given that I've sent so many emails).

In any case, I've been getting secondaries for DO school and I only have the LOR from DO/MD doctors and none from any professors.

I've felt that those two professors I was closest with; therefore, I do not have much contact with any other professor besides those initial two.

Any advice anyone can give? I would appreciate any guidance!

 

[darklabel]

Nagging them may give them a reason to write a bad letter, but go to their office and seeing if they can won't hurt. They're probably waiting for you to come see them. If they both said no, then you'll have to contact the medical schools you're applying to to see if they'll accept professional letters in leu of professor ones.

 

[NERDY]

Can you call the offices of the professors? Perhaps the professors have been out of town or there is a problem with the email boxes?

 

[Chizase311]

If you are applying to the same schools, in many cases you can use the letters from the previous cycle. Obviously it helps to add new letters too, but I did this for my instructors letters. Usually you just have to call the office of admissions, ask if they have access to last years, and they will tell you who to email.

 

[jango1222]

Thanks for the excellent advice guys!

I forgot to mention that I applied to MD last cycle but am now applying for DO. So contacting those schools to forward the letters wouldn't work...I don't think. If I called X MD school and asked them to forward it to Y DO school, would they?

Also, I made a visit to both professors office, or attempted to rather, but both are no longer employed by the university (retired) any longer.

Any advice on what I should do next? I have a few professors that I had good contact with WHILE I was in school but no longer. Would it be plausible to approach them and say I was once a student of theirs, etc etc, and looking to see if they would write a letter?

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[kgpremed11]

I applied last cycle with 2 LOR from very well spoken professors. However, for this cycle, I cannot seem to get in touch with them to write yet another letter for me. I have been emailing them at their university emails (total of 4 emails) since July.

I'm not sure if they are too busy with their work or they are trying to tell me by not responding that they don't have time to write another letter. I was thinking of actually GOING IN and trying to catch them in their office, but I'm not sure if that crosses any line (given that I've sent so many emails).

In any case, I've been getting secondaries for DO school and I only have the LOR from DO/MD doctors and none from any professors.

I've felt that those two professors I was closest with; therefore, I do not have much contact with any other professor besides those initial two.

Any advice anyone can give? I would appreciate any guidance!

should have used interfolio