How to get professor to actually write your letter

[superstudly]

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Asked a professor to write me a letter and they were very pleased and even called me on my phone that day to talk about things and give me advice.....

Since then absolute no communication and beginning to worry if they will write one at all. I've emailed twice with a reminder of the letter and have heard nothing back. Professor is constantly on facebook and is not teaching summer classes so I would assume they aren't terribly busy.

Just wondering what some of you may have done who had professors that weren't responsive about writing the letter after initial contact.

Thanks

 

[yellowberry07]

I was in a similar situation as you, however it was for a dentist. I asked in person, but after a while still didn't get any type of response after dentist agreed to write LOR. However, I emailed and called back to remind twice that I had a deadline coming up. You should probably should call the professor and send a friendly reminder or go to their office and talk in person instead.

Good luck!

 

[mustardseed5]

You should probably should call the professor and send a friendly reminder or go to their office and talk in person instead.

+1

This is a common problem. Just keep gently reminding. Express your gratitude in person if possible, when you see them, and have that hand written thank you note ready to go when the LOR is finally submitted.

 

[shayanH]

Asked a professor to write me a letter and they were very pleased and even called me on my phone that day to talk about things and give me advice.....

Since then absolute no communication and beginning to worry if they will write one at all. I've emailed twice with a reminder of the letter and have heard nothing back. Professor is constantly on facebook and is not teaching summer classes so I would assume they aren't terribly busy.

Just wondering what some of you may have done who had professors that weren't responsive about writing the letter after initial contact.

Thanks

I would contact other professors for LOR and just wait for the other one. Dont waste anytime!!

 

[DentalHopeful28]

The same thing happened to me as well. I sent a nice email asking "the status of the letter of recommendation and if there is any other information I could provide to make the process easier." In addition, I went to the professor's class (he didn't have office hours) about an hour before the class started (so I would be the first person there.) You mentioned that your professor isn't teaching summer classes, so this might not be feasible. If they are on facebook,have you tried sending a fb message? Maybe they'll be more responsive.

The key is to tread lightly and not be too pushy because, ultimately, they are going to be the person recommending you, and you don't want it to be a bad letter.

 

[superstudly]

Thanks for all the responses...

I messaged them on fb and got a response about an hour later saying "will respond with more details tomorrow". That was on Tuesday and I never received an additional response.

I would just get another one but all of my secondaries I put this professor down as the one who would be writing my letter. Guess I could contact those schools and get another professor. Going to call in the morning to see if I can get any info on the progress of the letter.

 

[toyotasupra]

I got fawked up last year because of something similar. I asked a microbiology professor 3 months in advance during the summer time for a LOR. When August rolled around the corner dang woman didn't return my 3 phone calls and 5 emails. Well I ended up E-submitting my application hoping that she would get it done.... never happened.

End result: I'm reapplying this year.