LOR Frustration!

[jenjoie]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring up the subject of overdue letters of recommendation?

After realizing that I was closer to finishing my undergraduate degree than I originally thought, I have been working super hard over the past six months in order to apply for the 2014 cycle (instead of 2015, like I had planned). Everything is ready, but I have been sitting on my application until I got my MCAT retake score (done) and my LORs (not so done). I realize I am already very behind in the application process, but I do know a few people who were admitted to my first-choice school as late as May of last year so I'm not giving up yet. However...I am currently at a very frustrated standstill because not one of my LOR writers has submitted their letters yet. When sending my request I set a due date of September 20; each letter is officially past the requested deadline, and I am beginning to get overwhelmed, stressed and a bit irritated.

How can I nicely remind these people that their letters are past due? I don't want to come across as bossy or demanding because I realize they are doing me a favor, but...this is kind of a big deal for me. I hate to think that all my effort is going to be wasted due to the actions (or inactions, really) of other people. :-/

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[bionerd89]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring up the subject of overdue letters of recommendation?

After realizing that I was closer to finishing my undergraduate degree than I originally thought, I have been working super hard over the past six months in order to apply for the 2014 cycle (instead of 2015, like I had planned). Everything is ready, but I have been sitting on my application until I got my MCAT retake score (done) and my LORs (not so done). I realize I am already very behind in the application process, but I do know a few people who were admitted to my first-choice school as late as May of last year so I'm not giving up yet. However...I am currently at a very frustrated standstill because not one of my LOR writers has submitted their letters yet. When sending my request I set a due date of September 20; each letter is officially past the requested deadline, and I am beginning to get overwhelmed, stressed and a bit irritated.

How can I nicely remind these people that their letters are past due? I don't want to come across as bossy or demanding because I realize they are doing me a favor, but...this is kind of a big deal for me. I hate to think that all my effort is going to be wasted due to the actions (or inactions, really) of other people. :-/

Hi this happened to me a few months ago so I know how you feel..I was waiting on a physician LOR but they kept forgetting. So I just sent them a reminder email saying that the LOR was due by a certain date and then every week till that day I sent them a reminder letter asking if I could help with anything or if they needed more information. I ended up going back to her clinic to help her for a day and also made sure she submitted my letter on the same day. If possible, I would suggest you go speak with the letter writer directly and tell them that you need the letter by a certain deadline. Good Luck

 

[rkmoto121]

I am having a pretty bad problem with one of my LOR writers too. She is now about a month past the date I asked her to submit by. I have just been emailing her. I have emailed her now like three times. And I just say something like "hey just checking in to see how everything is going with the LOR. If you need anything else then let me know, etc and then I put a little reminder at the end of the email that my application has been verified so it would be great if she could submit as soon as possible.
I am going to go talk to her in person this week though.

 

[tmandudeguy]

Well first of all, you don't need LOR for your primary. Have you submitted that yet? Second, kindly remind them weekly that you hope everything is going well and that are sorry for the respective writers workload on top of writing your letter. And then offer to help them out with anything regarding the letter. Essentially, sympathize with them. It works, trust me.

 

[jenjoie]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I have spoken to two of the writers (I know them on a more personal basis and feel a little more comfortable approaching them) and plan on emailing the other later this week. I will be submitting my application this week as well. One more question...I have all transcripts except for my current school submitted (I have been to a junior college, received a degree from a university and am currently taking post-bacc classes at another); basically I still owe $300 for the current semester which I can't pay until a couple weeks from now. They will not release my transcript until my account is paid in full. Can I (and should I) go ahead and submit my application now, or wait until I get that last transcript? Everything else is ready to go.

 

[bionerd89]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I have spoken to two of the writers (I know them on a more personal basis and feel a little more comfortable approaching them) and plan on emailing the other later this week. I will be submitting my application this week as well. One more question...I have all transcripts except for my current school submitted (I have been to a junior college, received a degree from a university and am currently taking post-bacc classes at another); basically I still owe $300 for the current semester which I can't pay until a couple weeks from now. They will not release my transcript until my account is paid in full. Can I (and should I) go ahead and submit my application now, or wait until I get that last transcript? Everything else is ready to go.

Yeah you can submit your application now but you won't be officially in the line to get processed until all your transcripts are in. You should definitely try to get those transcript asap cause its getting a little late in the cycle.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

You don't have to submit LORs until submitting your secondary.

At LECOM-B you don't have to submit LORs to get an Interview.

Get you application in as fast as possible.

I submitted 1 month ago and regret not sending it in sooner. People with similar stats to mine are already interviewing and it sucks sitting around.

 

[jenjoie]

Yeah you can submit your application now but you won't be officially in the line to get processed until all your transcripts are in. You should definitely try to get those transcript asap cause its getting a little late in the cycle.

Trust me, I've been silently panicking for about a month now because I can't get this thing turned in yet. We unexpectedly became a one income family a couple months ago (although we just barely squeak past the eligibility margin for fee assistance) so I have been having to finish the application process in pieces as the money becomes available. To add insult, since I took extra hours this trimester my student loans were not enough to cover everything (our school has a per-hour tuition, not a flat rate full-time tuition). So...MCAT first...then books...now I am working on getting the school the $350 I owe...then to work on the approx. $700 to get my application processed. You know, just in case the med school application process isn't stressful enough.


And LE-COM is definitely going back on my list...I whittled down to 10 schools because that is all I feel like I can afford, but LE-COM was a last resort cut. I think I will reconsider.

 

[bionerd89]

Trust me, I've been silently panicking for about a month now because I can't get this thing turned in yet. We unexpectedly became a one income family a couple months ago (although we just barely squeak past the eligibility margin for fee assistance) so I have been having to finish the application process in pieces as the money becomes available. To add insult, since I took extra hours this trimester my student loans were not enough to cover everything (our school has a per-hour tuition, not a flat rate full-time tuition). So...MCAT first...then books...now I am working on getting the school the $350 I owe...then to work on the approx. $700 to get my application processed. You know, just in case the med school application process isn't stressful enough.


And LE-COM is definitely going back on my list...I whittled down to 10 schools because that is all I feel like I can afford, but LE-COM was a last resort cut. I think I will reconsider.

Wow that sucks. I hope you hang in there. Don't worry too much about the timing. I know that DO schools are more lenient about applying later in the cycle. My friend interviewed at Touro the week before school started and got in. Good Luck with everything.