LOR question...should I be freaking out?

[mouster]

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Hey guys. I'm a non-trad out of school for a bit (did a masters in 2014, then got married and wanted to get more clinical experience under my belt before applying so I'd be a super strong applicant. I'm currently having issues with getting LORS.

I emailed two of my professors from grad school earlier this month, and I got an immediate reply from one and he had my letter done in under two days. The other professor has never responded, and so I sent her an email yesterday asking if she received my original email, and I also emailed two other professors in case she never got back to me (one I emailed on Friday, the other yesterday).

My question is: how much should I be freaking out? Should I go to the campus to find someone to write me a letter of rec? I didn't at first because I work full-time and it's hard for me to get days off (I'm one of the only bilingual medical assistants at my job, so getting someone to cover me is difficult). I'm just unsure what the next step is/how badly I'm screwed for this application cycle if I don't get confirmation that I can get a LOR before school lets out for summer.

 

[mathnerd88]

Hey guys. I'm a non-trad out of school for a bit (did a masters in 2014, then got married and wanted to get more clinical experience under my belt before applying so I'd be a super strong applicant. I'm currently having issues with getting LORS.

I emailed two of my professors from grad school earlier this month, and I got an immediate reply from one and he had my letter done in under two days. The other professor has never responded, and so I sent her an email yesterday asking if she received my original email, and I also emailed two other professors in case she never got back to me (one I emailed on Friday, the other yesterday).

My question is: how much should I be freaking out? Should I go to the campus to find someone to write me a letter of rec? I didn't at first because I work full-time and it's hard for me to get days off (I'm one of the only bilingual medical assistants at my job, so getting someone to cover me is difficult). I'm just unsure what the next step is/how badly I'm screwed for this application cycle if I don't get confirmation that I can get a LOR before school lets out for summer.

Does your school have a health professions office? You may want to get a letter from them if your school offers it. You can also wait for other professors to respond. You don't need to be freaking out just yet. From my experience, some professors will take a while to respond, while others will respond right away. In your case, I would just wait to see if the other two professors will respond.

 

[mouster]

They do not have a health professions office. I'm just worried about not getting them before summer, as I don't know if any of those professors are teaching summer school.

 

[mathnerd88]

They do not have a health professions office. I'm just worried about not getting them before summer, as I don't know if any of those professors are teaching summer school.

Even if they aren't teaching, they still should be available on campus and/or by email doing other things.

 

[mouster]

Yeah, I'm just worried about them not responding to email (as they're doing right now, haha) and my application getting super delayed. I'm debating going in on Thursday or something to see if they got my email but I can't decide if that's overly neurotic/looks desperate. I have to drop off a thank you note for the other professor anyways.

 

[DrMikeP]

They do not have a health professions office. I'm just worried about not getting them before summer, as I don't know if any of those professors are teaching summer school.

It's always a good idea to ask for letters a few months ahead of time. If you email a couple of times and get no response then the professor doesn't want to or isn't getting email for potentially numerous reasons. If it's a doesn't want to then annoying the prof = bad choice. Either way you need at least 2 LORs from science profs so you do whatever it takes to get those. That might include dropping by campus (especially before the end of the term) BUT don't be overly annoying or you might get a bad letter.

Good Luck!

ps. At least one or two schools I applied to required a non-science faculty letter (if no committee letter) so check on the requirements for the specific schools you are interested in attending. Also, some don't require letters until after secondaries or interviews.

 

[mouster]

Yeah I dropped the ball on not asking for letters earlier...I'm taking my MCAT this Saturday and with working 12 hour days I completely lost track of time in asking for letters. I'm not submitting until early June at the earliest bc I won't get my score back until late May.

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Good luck friend, I had to physically hunt my letter writers down to get all my stuff in time. I hated every minute of it but it must be done.

 

[ERinspired]

An in person visit definitely helps sometimes! If you can go to the office hours of one or two of these people, I bet it would help your cause a lot.

 

[mouster]

Figured I'd update you guys: I emailed another one of my professors from undergrad who liked me, and she wrote me a letter within a week! I also ran into one of the professors from grad school who wasn't responding while dropping off a thank you note for another professor, and she told me she's more than happy to write me a letter; things have just been crazy lately with the end of the semester and all. All turned out well! Thanks for the reassurance!

 

[DrMikeP]

Figured I'd update you guys: I emailed another one of my professors from undergrad who liked me, and she wrote me a letter within a week! I also ran into one of the professors from grad school who wasn't responding while dropping off a thank you note for another professor, and she told me she's more than happy to write me a letter; things have just been crazy lately with the end of the semester and all. All turned out well! Thanks for the reassurance!

Glad it worked out! Best of Luck!