Letter of Rec Issue

[Got Heem]

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So I have 4 out of the 5 letters I listed on AMCAS submitted and ready to go. I asked my professor in March to write me a letter, which he agreed to do. He had me send him all kinds of information about myself, and told me he would get it done.

I visited his class in late June to ensure he was still writing it, which he confirmed he was, but that he needs me to stay on him about it. It is now August and I still do not have the letter submitted. I've finished 7 secondary apps so far, but can't get my app reviewed until ALL letters have been received, so I'm starting to grow rather impatient. I went to his office Friday, but he wasn't there so I emailed him afterwards asking for an update, and have gotten no response. I went to his office again today and again he was not there.

I am wondering what I should do. I am thinking of e-mailing him again, but don't want to pester him. And even if I do badger him enough into finishing this letter, how good is it going to be for the annoying kid that wouldn't shut up about it?

I have one other teacher who was willing to write a purely academic letter for me (no mention of me as a person), but I told him I did not need it because I already had the five. I am now considering asking him to write it, but feel bad changing my mind and telling him I now need it as soon as possible.

What exactly should I do here...

 

[Got Heem]

Any advice on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated. Time is clearly a factor here, so I'd like to get this figured out ASAP.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

I am pretty sure that, as long as you don't designate his letter for a school, your application can be reviewed there.
If you did designate it... badger the hell out of him. Really. Go to his office and plead, call his office number if you can't get face to face time, do something. He is holding your application hostage as long as you let him.

RE: the other professor. Have them write it as a backup. Don't assign it if you don't need it.

 

[neurodoc]

You're in a tough situation. At best your prof is just an absent-minded procrastinator who otherwise means no harm. It would be reasonable to send an email and/or meet personally to explain just how much your application depends on getting a letter (hopefully a good one) from him. Be gracious and profusely apologize for any inconvenience your need for his LOR may be causing him. You can't really do much more than that.

It could be worse. He could be a passive-aggressive type who's ambivalent about you, or maybe doesn't want to write a positive LOR.

In any case, his failure to come through with an LOR is inconsiderate. 😡

 

[railgun]

Also, you can mark letter as not being sent any longer under amcas

 

[Got Heem]

I know I can delete his letter but some schools, including many of my top choices, require either 5 total letters or two from science faculty, and his letter is necessary to satisfy both requirements.

I have sent him one last e-mail, explaining more in depth why I need this letter so badly and apologizing for badgering/inconveniencing him. In the (likely) scenario that I get no response, I will try calling his office. He has his home phone listed on his website, but I feel that's a good way to get a bad letter.

I will not be back at school to see him in person until Wednesday, which I feel is too late for the letter, so I will probably begin the process of asking my "back-up" teacher to write a strictly academic letter. I just fear that his not mentioning anything about me as a person will be looked at as an indictment of me by the ADCOM, is that a reasonable cause for concern?

 

[Got Heem]

I probably should have mentioned that it is our week between summer and fall semesters right now, so it is possible he is on vacation or simply does not come to the office/check e-mails during break.

However, school does not resume until Wednesday. Meaning that at the earliest, I would speak with him then, and he probably would not get the letter submitted until, at best, the following day (even that is generous). I could probably have the other professor submit my letter by tomorrow, and I'm wondering how important a week is for my application. Should I sacrifice quality of letter to get my application in early, or just relax for a week and submit the better letter at a later date?

I am a rather cookie cutter applicant.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I was going to say write him a letter explaining how important it is that he submits the letter very soon, but it sounds like you already did that. I would go ahead and request the back up letter anyway, although be sure that this back-up person isn't going to feel surprised by the sudden, urgent request. LOR writers tend to like to have at least 1-2 months of warning before the letter is needed. Many would actually be offended by a request to have a letter done within a week, much less by the following day. However, if this person already wrote it and just hasn't submitted, then go ahead and ask.


Also, for future readers who stumble upon this thread while googling, this is why it's important to give your letter writers deadlines, even if there actually aren't any real deadlines in the process. It makes it clear that you expect a letter by a certain point, and it gives you a way to tell them "I need this by the end of the month/week/tomorrow" in a way that makes them feel guilty instead of rushed. Also try to set that deadline well before the date you'll actually want to have them by, since some LOR writers will actually procrastinate so much that they miss the deadline. I did that with my letters (told everyone I needed their letter by June 1st at the latest) and I was very glad I did since I had two people wait until (what they thought was) the last minute to submit the letters. I also got three science LORs even though I knew I'd only be using two since I was dubious whether or not one particular person would actually ever have it finished.

 

[Got Heem]

Well, I still have not heard back from my professor, and I'm just going to assume he does not check his work e-mail or go to his office during the week without classes in session.

So I'm considering calling him on his home phone. He does have it listed on his website, but I really feel like I am overstepping boundaries by doing so. I could probably wait until Wednesday and find him in his office, but that's 5 days that people are getting II's while I sit around twiddling my thumbs, and then there's still going to be time for him to finish and submit my letter. Any advice here? Is calling a professor on his home phone for a LOR too big of an imposition? I don't want to piss him off into writing a bad letter or not writing one at all...

 

[Got Heem]

Edit.