LOR rant

[GoodMonkey]

grrr... so my very last LOR, the one that is the most important to me, has been lost somewhere in the great US postal system or the black hole of the reference letter center of my ugrad school. i gave it to the recommender all priority mail pre-postaged and everything 2 weeks ago (she was out of the country and this was the soonest i could get it -- eek! ) and she told me she sent it out last thursday! THURSDAY! priority mail should only take like 2 days! anyway, so to make a long rant short, i have completed a bunch of secondaries as long as three weeks ago and i haven't sent the LORs to go with them. YUCK! hopefully this won't screw me over too badly.

so yeah. that's my rant. i am currently trying to contact that last person and get them to re-send it. lovely. the really annoying thing is this letter is the one that validates all my yadda-yadda-yadda-my-clinical-experience-stuff, so without it, all my essays about the time spent at that place are going to seem like fluff.

anyhoo. i'll stop ranting now. any peace-inducing thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

 

[Mr. H]

I'm in the same bind, but Im' waiting on two letters.
I've sent out 10 secondaries and I got 4 or5 left, but it don't matter without the damn letters!
agrgh

 

[jalan2]

This whole LOR thing is driving me NUTS!!!! I totally understand what you guys feel, since I've completed 10 secondaries already (10 more to go) but because SOME LOR people just don't do what they promise, even when they're reminded (!), all my early work do not count as early!!!! Just one recommender can put you back for months!!! I will be backed up more than a month because of that!!! And I totally gave these LOR people a lot of time in advance!!!

Sorry to rant, but I feel a bit better now.

 

[Mr. H]

There are quite a few schools that request non-science letters. I suggest contacting each individual schools to see if they will make exceptions. I talked to Michigan and they are OK with it, but you may have to find one.
g'luck

 

[GoodMonkey]

there are a few schools that request it. tulane, michigan... in any case, i called each school and asked them if i could substitute another letter. but i've been out of school for a few years, so they were pretty inclined to let a vol. supervisor or a boss letter slide. umich said they'll evaluate my file and if it appears that my non-science stuff is good'nuff (i.e. good humanities grades?) then it should be fine. in otherwords, contact each school. tell them you have back-up letters (hopefully you do) from people other than sci profs, but who aren't faculty at a university. hopefully the schools will be understanding.

in re: my rant. i have to re-send all the last LOR paperwork again. this time i am inclined to HAND deliver the stupid stuff. i contacted my ref.letter.center (that collects/sends out my files) and the last remaining letter is nowhere to be found. so i'm left with either the USPS being priority-mail incompetent or my recommender lying about putting the letter in the mail last week. grrr i just love being set back a month on account of other people. like you said, all the early work is no longer "early."

 

[pwrpfgrl]

Ok, I'm ready to add my sob story. I thought I would check in with my pre-med office since I haven't heard anything from them. Turns out one of my letters (the one from the PI I've been working for for the last two years) is missing. It was due at the end of June and I know that it was sent almost 2 months ago!! ARGGHH. So anyway, last Monday, I had my PI's secratary dig up the letter he wrote and have him re-sign it and send it again. stupid me, i didn't think to tell them to send it certified and it hasn't shown up at the pre-med office yet. I think i'm going to cry!! My boss is going to think i'm the biggest ***** if I need to ask for ANOTHER letter. I've already sent out about half of my secondaries, but the pre-med office still has to write the committee letter (which they're waiting to do until they get all my letters!). I was so proud of myself for getting everything done early - now it doesn't even matter.


ok, enough moping. i need to stop stressing myself out. ranting really helps!!

 

[Bikini Princess]

this makes lazy people feel good honestly though, this sort of stuff sucks, because there's so little the applicant can do about it.

 

[PrincessCKNY]

I, too, was ranting until today. I finally met w/ my last letter writer (after a handful of emails AND contacting his g/f) today. Now I can breathe a big sigh of relief. Don't fret guys...there's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's just that some tunnels are longer than others.

As for my non-science letter, I've been to hell and back. I tried to get my humanities TA (I know TA's are looked down upon, but she has her PhD and can explain certain grade trends), but apparently she got married, changed her last name, and no longer teaches at the school. Wonderful. I tried tracking her down with every method short of contacting the FBI. I was even desperate enough to check that stupid "Classmates" website where you track down past schoolmate. Anyways, to make this short, I gave up and asked my psych prof for her letter, which I know will be crappy because I didn't know the woman and gave her like 2 weeks to write it.

Letter of rec's make you feel even more powerless when you're a control-freak pre-med.

 

[pwrpfgrl]

sniff, sniff

i'm still feeling sorry for myself. how pathetic.

 

[GoodMonkey]

yee-freakin-HA! the letter **finally** made it! i had the last person re-send the letter/forms, i had it postaged express, overnight mail w/delivery confirmation and tracking number and it got there yesterday! my file was sent out TODAY to the schools w/fast approaching deadlines. whee!

so after having some of these friggin secondaries done for like a month now, i can finally complete my file. hopkins actually sent me an email saying my file is incomplete...yadda yadda ... where the h***are your recommendations dorko? .... etc. they will ALL be sent out tomorrow by priority mail. whee!


whew. now i feel better.

 

[coolwaters]

I must admit this post is making me crazed since my premed committee has not yet sent out our letters, and isn't planning to do so for another month. They claim all the adcom people are on the beach now anyways, so I just should not worry! My secondaries are going to have a heep of dust on them my the time my recs get there =mad:

 

[coolwaters]

Any one else in a similar situation?

 

[Sweet Tea]

yup. still waiting on 2 LORs... one from a guy on an adcom, the other from my PI. arrrrrrgh!!!!!

so frustrating b/c i've sent in 10 secondaries, but haven't been able to send in LORs to complete my files. so much for being prepared...

the good news is, unc (my first choice but golly, i'll be happy to go anywhere!) hasn't sent out secondaries yet, so i'm not behind there... trying to find positive aspects of this situation wherever i can.

 

[DW]

Originally posted by coolwaters
They claim all the adcom people are on the beach now anyways, so I just should not worry!

wow, what bastards. you should forward them the interview lists from these boards.

 

[coolwaters]

Yeah, I thought about that tactic, however somehow I don't think it would get me anywhere. I have sent them a couple "concerned" emails though. There now telling me just 3 more weeks, eeks! Worst part is they were so adamant we get everything in for AMCAs first two weeks in June, and then turn our secondaries around in two weeks without exception, yet they aren't holding their end of the bargain up.

When I mentioned my concerns the first time, I was told to read a book called "worry" . I mean really!

Rant over...just feels good to get it off my chest.