- Joined
- Sep 18, 2012
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I'd like some SDN thoughts on this.
My application should be verified in the next week or so and I'm starting to prepare for my secondaries. I have all of my letters of recommendation, except one.
I went to this professor in May. We met in person, at his office. It went well. He spoke with me for about an hour and graciously offered to write me a recommendation. The only weird question I ever received during my interview was "Why medical school?" It wasn't in the, "Why is medicine interesting to you?" tone, but more like "Why not nursing school or PA school?"
Other than that brief 1-2 minute excursion, the meeting went well. Problem? It's now September and I still haven't received the letter. I've sent numerous gentle emails over the summer and always received, "I'm so sorry...it's on the way." Or some variation of this. Each time he was more and more convincing that it was coming. I called recently and was able to get him on the phone, at his office. He apologized and stated he was "So busy, but I'll have it out by this weekend." There was a hint of frustration in his voice, which sent off some alarms for me.
No letter. Should I move on? This was a science professor and would have constituted one of my required two letters for several DO schools. Also, I really admired and appreciated this professor. I did well in his class and it was fairly transformative in my education. I have other science professors that I can go to, but none were as meaningful to me as this LOR. I'm disappointed. I can't tell at this point if I'm being screwed with or if this is just pure forgetfulness. I spoke with another professor (someone I can trust in confidence) that stated he is notorious for taking on too much work, but couldn't imagine him being so busy as to not be able to write a LOR after 3 months.
My concern is doubled now. I'll have to give the next professor at least a 3 week time frame to get the letter, assuming no delays. My secondaries to those schools will be significantly delayed. Very frustrated, but mostly disappointed. There are certain people you come to look up to, the adults in the room, and you get let down when you realize they're just as human as you are. Every other professor or letter writer had something submitted within 3-4 weeks, max.
My application should be verified in the next week or so and I'm starting to prepare for my secondaries. I have all of my letters of recommendation, except one.
I went to this professor in May. We met in person, at his office. It went well. He spoke with me for about an hour and graciously offered to write me a recommendation. The only weird question I ever received during my interview was "Why medical school?" It wasn't in the, "Why is medicine interesting to you?" tone, but more like "Why not nursing school or PA school?"
Other than that brief 1-2 minute excursion, the meeting went well. Problem? It's now September and I still haven't received the letter. I've sent numerous gentle emails over the summer and always received, "I'm so sorry...it's on the way." Or some variation of this. Each time he was more and more convincing that it was coming. I called recently and was able to get him on the phone, at his office. He apologized and stated he was "So busy, but I'll have it out by this weekend." There was a hint of frustration in his voice, which sent off some alarms for me.
No letter. Should I move on? This was a science professor and would have constituted one of my required two letters for several DO schools. Also, I really admired and appreciated this professor. I did well in his class and it was fairly transformative in my education. I have other science professors that I can go to, but none were as meaningful to me as this LOR. I'm disappointed. I can't tell at this point if I'm being screwed with or if this is just pure forgetfulness. I spoke with another professor (someone I can trust in confidence) that stated he is notorious for taking on too much work, but couldn't imagine him being so busy as to not be able to write a LOR after 3 months.
My concern is doubled now. I'll have to give the next professor at least a 3 week time frame to get the letter, assuming no delays. My secondaries to those schools will be significantly delayed. Very frustrated, but mostly disappointed. There are certain people you come to look up to, the adults in the room, and you get let down when you realize they're just as human as you are. Every other professor or letter writer had something submitted within 3-4 weeks, max.
