My letter writer keeps stalling me

[Phoenix Rising]

So in July 2010 I have a meeting with one of my mentors in the school of medicine where he offered to write a letter of recommendation for me. I was ecstatic and glad to know that someone who knew me as well as he did would offer to write me a letter. Fast forward to today, and he has still not written the letter. I have emailed him twice about it, and he says he needs more time. All my secondaries are on hold because I need his letter. His letter is very important to me because he is a good writer, holds weight in the school of medicine, and can really speak to my abilities. Now I know he is a busy person and bless his soul for all the work he does, but I really need this letter. He even told me in person 3 weeks ago that he "needed a few more days". It has been 3 months, and I can't imagine that it takes this long to write a letter. What do I do? I have already made it clear in my email last week that I NEED THIS LETTER ASAP, but to no avail. Should I send another email, asking for an estimation of when the letter will be done? Any help is appreciated

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mithril]

You need to confront him in person again. It's all too easy to ignore or miss the urgency of emails.

 

[fizzgig]

is this one of your required ones, as in your app won't be complete without it? if not maybe you can submit them and then update your app once you get it?

just guessing, i'm not that far along in this process so i don't know too much

edit: oh yeah, definitely agree with above - if you have to camp outside his door, go see him in PERSON, fo sho.

 

[anfleisch]

Definitely list it is not coming, you should have done this weeks ago.

 

[Overmjnd]

I was in this situation last month; waited 4 WHOLE months for the writer. In the end, he ended up writing it and turning it in; I was very close to sending him a letter asking wtf mate? when he just sent it.

I'm sure he knows, I wouldn't want to pester a writer....

 

[sustentacular]

So in July 2010 I have a meeting with one of my mentors in the school of medicine where he offered to write a letter of recommendation for me. I was ecstatic and glad to know that someone who knew me as well as he did would offer to write me a letter. Fast forward to today, and he has still not written the letter. I have emailed him twice about it, and he says he needs more time. All my secondaries are on hold because I need his letter. His letter is very important to me because he is a good writer, holds weight in the school of medicine, and can really speak to my abilities. Now I know he is a busy person and bless his soul for all the work he does, but I really need this letter. He even told me in person 3 weeks ago that he "needed a few more days". It has been 3 months, and I can't imagine that it takes this long to write a letter. What do I do? I have already made it clear in my email last week that I NEED THIS LETTER ASAP, but to no avail. Should I send another email, asking for an estimation of when the letter will be done? Any help is appreciated

Could it be possible that he does not want to write the letter for you? Or might not write a good recommendation and hence is stalling in hopes you'll ask someone else? Working in the school of medicine he has got to know just how late this is making your apps.
Catch him in person and ask him if he thinks you should get someone else to write you a letter if he can't have it done and mailed by Monday.

 

[cfx]

This happened to me, too (I started a thread on it a few months back). Eventually, I realized that there was a good chance he would never get around to writing it. I just cut my losses and submitted everything without the letter. Here it is, 6 months after I asked him and numerous emails later, and it's still not in. I'm glad I moved on. It's a shame, because he was one of my "science" LOR writers, so I'm having to rely on a couple of "grey area" writers to fill that requirement. It could end up hurting me at a couple of schools, but I felt like delaying my app for several more months would hurt me much more, especially since it's now evident that he's never going to write the thing.

As someone above me asked...is the letter required or can you get by without it?

 

[Phoenix Rising]

Wow, thanks for the responses guys! The letter IS required for my app. I would think he still wants to write it for me, because we have gotten to know each other quite well and he has said several times he wants to write it but needs more time. I know the guy is really busy, so I understand if this has to sit on the backburner, but gosh the deadlines are coming soon and I need to move on with the application process. He even mentioned to a friend of mine how he was still working on my letter, so I don't think he is just putting me off forever. So I'm thinking I should stop by his office one of these days? Should I give him prior notice that I will be stopping by on Friday or should I just show up without notice? I'm thinking that he may perceive this step as confrontational, so I'm leaning more towards an email with more seriousness about my situation. What do you guys think?

 

[fizzgig]

if it's absolutely required, i would go see him personally. try to catch him when he seems to have a minute in his office or whatever. i would go without sending an official email/calling, so that it seems casual to show up and ask about it, you're not setting up the inquisition, but when you're there make sure you mention the reason you're stopping by is you're working on your secondaries and they're due in X days. if he's like oh right, sorry, i'm on it, give me a few days, etc, then in a friendly way as you're heading out say ok thanks so much i really appreciate it, so should i come by in a few days then? i guess i mean be nice but set actual checkpoints (due date, a stopping back by date..)

also, according to you he is not a flake, just busy, but i might turboask a second person as a backup, with many apologies, saying you hate to ask and weren't going to because you didnt want to bug them, but you are in a bind.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

aight, friday ima do this. either i get a letter or a polite GTFO remark.

 

[gettheleadout]

lol...good luck though

 

[Mithril]

aight, friday ima do this. either i get a letter or a polite GTFO remark.

Don't forget to wear something like this:

 

[Phoenix Rising]

I was thinking more like this:

but thats cool too.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

alright, so I couldn't resist waiting until Friday, so asked him today. He said that he had been swamped with worked repeatedly in the past few weeks, and because writing my letter was complex (in a good way of course), he kept having to put off the letter. But now he said he will get it to me by Monday. Yay! I just hope I am not too late for secondaries to be sent in.

 

[theWUbear]

alright, so I couldn't resist waiting until Friday, so asked him today. He said that he had been swamped with worked repeatedly in the past few weeks, and because writing my letter was complex (in a good way of course), he kept having to put off the letter. But now he said he will get it to me by Monday. Yay! I just hope I am not too late for secondaries to be sent in.

You gotta go in person when deadlines get close and your need is not their priority (which is frequently the case with LORs and profs)

glad it worked out