How long to get letters? Waiting on a professor....

[Kanye West]

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Hey everyone

How long did it usually take you guys to get your letters? I knew most of my writers well so the finished them in 1 in 2 weeks, but one prof is taking forever. I asked him May 5th, but still nothing. Is it reasonable to hit him up and ask him if he has gotten a chance to do it because I need it now? How can I say it politely?

My primary has already been sent to all my schools.

Gracias

 

[anfleisch]

Just ask if he can let you know if he doesn't have time or something. If he doesn't have time now, you can send it later unless you don't have enough. It can take anywhere from a day to forever to get them. It's almost two months now, you can ask him without being annoying.

 

[dramaqueen14]

Yeah you should definitely ask him politely if he has gotten a chance to write it yet. Like a month after I asked my profs, three of them weren't in to the pre-health office...turns out 2 profs had written them and forgot to submit and one hadn't gotten around to it but ended up writing it within the following week. I just wrote an email asking if they'd been able to get around to writing the letter since I noticed the prehealth committee didn't have it on file, thanked them again for agreeing to write the letter and to let me know if they need any more info.

 

[lstone13]

Yeah you should definitely ask him politely if he has gotten a chance to write it yet. Like a month after I asked my profs, three of them weren't in to the pre-health office...turns out 2 profs had written them and forgot to submit and one hadn't gotten around to it but ended up writing it within the following week. I just wrote an email asking if they'd been able to get around to writing the letter since I noticed the prehealth committee didn't have it on file, thanked them again for agreeing to write the letter and to let me know if they need any more info.

I agree with this. I had a professor that took well over two months to write my letter, so being polite, grateful, but also proactive could help get your letter turned in sooner.

 

[Hydrogen5040]

You can remind the prof politely by asking if they have any questions or need any additional materials in order to complete your application, because you just submitted your priamaries and are now thinking of the next step in the application process.

He probably just has a million recommendations to write and isn't sure which ones to do first. If you communicate that you need them soon, I'd think that he would get it done quick.

 

[gettheleadout]

I'm just waiting for the OP to cut somebody off and steal the spotlight in this thread

 

[cfx]

I'm still waiting on one, and I asked in mid-April. I've done the polite reminder thing a few times, and it hasn't done much good, although the last time she indicated that she's ready to upload it...still nothing, though.

Just wanted to commiserate. I DID get one letter writer to upload via "polite reminders" where I basically sent him an update and asked if there is anything I can do to help/any more info I can send. I have a feeling that he completely forgot, but once I reminded him he had it up within a couple of days.

 

[Kanye West]

I emailed him a few days ago. And then I realized he is horrible with emails. Do you think I should just walk into his office one day (Dont even know if he's on campus)? I have 5 secondaries waiting to be sent out!! 😡

 

[Kip]

Send in a thank you note with a gift card enclosed. Sped things up for me.

 

[Kanye West]

He's on vacation. Probably till mid-July. I already have a bunch of secondaries (earlier from 6/25). Should I submit those without my letters? I'm sending them all together in a packet through my school.

 

[eablackwell]

Submit the secondaries so they are complete except for the letters. That will help 🙂 Always better to have everything done that you can get done.

As for letter writers taking forever...

I asked all my letter writers back in March, just to make sure I had everything in order. I kept contact with them every few weeks, just to remind them I was alive and such (I knew them all fairly well).

When AMCAS opened I sent them the LOR letters the first day.

Professional Letter writer: Sent 1st day, in AMCAS in less than a week.

Science Letter writer 1: Sent 2nd week, in AMCAS before June.

Science Letter writer 2: Had not sent letter by mid-June. No longer responded to emails/calls. I ended up finding her schedule for the semester and basically waiting outside the building where she taught (as she was not present for office hours for 2 weeks). Turns out, her daughter had been in the hospital for the past month and a half and she felt horrible about not responding/sending the letter. After talking about her daughter for about 10 minutes and her venting I offered to have someone else write the letter to give her extra family time, but she insisted on writing it for me and sent it in the next day. **** happens to professors sometimes.

Non-Science Letter writer: I knew this professor the best, as I wrote my honors thesis under her guidance. I had been in contact with her for over 4 months about this letter, letting her know it would be early May before the letter could be submitted. On May 6th I get an email stating she's out of the country until late August with no access to letterhead or a printer until then. So I had to find someone else who still hasn't sent it.

Peer Letters: Both sent by mid-June.

Moral of the story: 1) All letter writers are different and it really just depends on outside circumstances sometimes.

2) I cannot write a short post.

3) I also learned 90+% of professors don't like to upload LORs. I have no idea why. It seems so much faster and easier, but every person I asked mailed it, which of course took longer to input.