LOR troubles

[Sweet Tea]

So I just got back from a conference to find a letter from the University of Vermont. They said they need 3 letters from professors-- not just faculty members but people who have actually taught me. This is a problem b/c a) I graduated in 2001 from a large university and the only profs I knew really well have already written letters for me. and b) they want it by Dec. 31. I called the admissions office and they said that they needed either a committee letter (don't have a committee) or 3 profs, and they won't budge (even though my boss is on faculty, she didn't actually teach me...) yeach.

The thing is that I really liked UVM and would love to go there. Should I bother trying to get that LOR? I'm frustrated.

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[Green912]

That's one of the reasons I've been dragging my feet to finish Pitt's secondary. They want a third faculty letter, and my grad career has given me limited contact with professors. I have someone I could approach, but I'm putting it on hold. If you can, just get a letter to meet the requirement. It'll probably be a generic one, but at least it's better then not being able to apply at all.

 

[applejuice1979]

Hi! I am (was as of today) in a similar situation to you, except that I had anticipated needing 3 letters. I only asked 2 people who taught me that I knew well enough to ask. The other was from the graduate student I did research with. Well my physics teacher basically flaked--I gave him the information in May & he never sent in his letter even though he said he would. Well I summoned up the courage to ask 2 more science professors that I did not know too well to write letters for me and they both said yes. Moral of the story--I went to see my Biochem professor on Friday & explained what I've been doing since graduation in 2001, told him about my research, and WHOA He turned in his letter today! Good luck and just be bold about it!

 

[lola]

sweet tea,
just ask a prof you don't know. my graduate program was very impersonal, and many of my classes were so large that the profs had no idea who i was. i ended up asking one anyway. she actually remembered who i was and was happy to do it. even if it's not the greatest letter in the world, you might as well try.

 

[crazyA]

If you really want to go there and you think your stats will give you a reasonable shot of getting in, it's probably worth the extra effort...I don't know how much the quality of the letter will affect things anyway.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

SweetTea,
I'm gonna tell you something that you LOVE me for. I was in exactly the same position as you for NYMC. You have no idea how nice my prof was in helping me get it in on time.

Here's what I found out through the schools I spoke to--
The letters FROM PROFS THAT HAVE TAUGHT YOU, need to say no more than "SweetTea took my ____ class that is worth ____ credits and got a grade of ______." That's it!!

Schools bascially want to see that you indeed did take this class and what the prof thought about you. For that all he needs to say is something like, "Sweettea got a ___ in my class and I can say without doubt that she is one of the most outstanding studends I have met." This is assuming, of course, that you did well in the class.

I called my prof to let her know about this and she hammered out an LOR overnight and personally walked it down to the LOR service. Profs will do a lot for you, you just need to reach out. Let the prof know that the letter does not have to be much besides the above, BUT, "It would be nice to have more information about me." You should give the prof the option to write more, and most likely they will interview you for half an hour or so and write a one page "average LOR." Trust me, this works. I did it myself. And the letter my prof wrote for me overnight was not bad either! The schools say that you can have as many as 3 "optional letters" from others that have not taught you. Let those letters speak to your personality, diligence, etc. All the personal qualities. But don't let a school turn you down because you couldn't do this one little thing like ask a prof for a very generic, two paragraph letter.

My best wishes.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

PS: and if you t ell the prof you are suffering a huge deadline, you never know how much out of their way they will go for you. My prof not only wrote it overnight, but also HAND CARRIED it down to the LOR service because she did not want me to lose time having my letter go through snail mail. talk about "nice."

 

[Sweet Tea]

thanks for the help, guys!! tweetie, as always, you rock.

i just emailed an old professor to see if he could help me out. wish me luck!!

 

[Lara]

I just wanted to reiterate what Tweetie and others have said - *don't* let LORS keep you from submitting secondaries!!! For those who haven't heard this before, there was a snafu with my recs when I applied to Temple - they too wanted only a professor who taught me (though you'd think the physician-in-chief of a peds hospital who knew and followed you from childhood could give a better assessment!) Anyway, I was interviewed with an "incomplete" file of which I wasn't aware till after my application was supposed to have gone through the adcom for an acceptance decision. You can imagine how I felt once I finally found out...but fortunately they were willing to put me on hold and give me a chance to scramble for the proper LOR. The professor I found (and this was during finals period at my undergrad university) absolutely did not know me and the only class he'd taught also had maybe eight other instructors. But I got in anyway!

It's definitely easy to get paranoid as to how good your LORs are, but at least in my case it ended up making zero difference.

 

[Sweet Tea]

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! My old prof is going to write an LOR for me!!

Hopefully, all is not lost.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

whoooohoooooooooo.

Tweetie does the victory dance for Sweetie.

 

[Adcadet]

I was going to throw in my story about how it's easier to just ask somebody than to worry about it, but I think the point has already been made.

Good to know everyone is being taken care of! God bless SDN.

 

[lola]

Originally posted by Sweet Tea
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! My old prof is going to write an LOR for me!!

Hopefully, all is not lost.

wooo hoooo!!! see, it wasn't too bad, especially over e-mail

i'm getting a little worried myself about drexel. i'm thinking they may need a non-science letter. ugh! i graduated 5 years ago, and many of my humanities profs are gone. i guess i'll call soon to find out...

 

[blackbird03]

Hi


I am having great trouble having a non-science letter of recommendation. Are there school that specifically ask for them? Can i just apply with my 4 science LORs?



thanx