Oh no! What to do?!

[whacked07]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I just got an email msg from one of my teachers who I had asked to write a LOR and is now telling me that he can no longer do it...and the thing is, all the other professors that I have asked to write a LOR already has sent theirs, and the only one left is this particular teacher..what shall I do?!

I guess maybe reapply next year..?

 

[clutzie16]

I dont think you should reapply just becasue you are missing a LOR...i would call the school and find out what you need to do in this case..and some schools dont require as many LOR's as other schools. So you mentioned the other professors sending them out, i think some schools only require 1 professor, 1 optometrist that you shadowed, and 1 personal LOR(employer, etc)...you might be alright with that one LOR missing as long as other things in your file are alright.
I definitely wouldnt give up this years admission just because of a professor who didnt come through.
Maybe you can even ask any other professor you took to just write something, just so they know your file is complete.

never give up!...i know it sounds rediculous, but this time of year its the only way to think

good luck

 

[GGelato9]

oh man that really stinks 🙁!

I'm sure there is someone else that could write you a letter of rec? You only really need 3...I had one of my TAs, a professor and an OD I shadowed.

gooood luck!

 

[braxton]

Ask one of the professors that have already written you a letter and sent it out to change the address and send it to the school where you are missing them. I had a similar experience and most of the professors still had copies of the letter.

 

[pienfoo]

a somewhat similiar situation happened to me. i had a prof whom i worked for from the school of med write a rec for me, then i realized that some schools require that it must be a prof that taught your class. anyway, i got a great letter of rec from another prof in 48 hours, literally. u just need to explain to him/her your situation and be politely annoying about it. so don't not apply just cuz ur missing a lor. hm although if u don't apply then that means it's one less competition for me ha ha. g'luck.

 

[Subiedubie]

I also had a similiar situation last year. Well at least your professor was kind enough to let you know that he or she could not write the letter. A TA that agreed to write me a letter back in Spring of 2005 never wrote me the letter. After numerous emails and phone calls I finally found out from her supervisor that she left to do research work in Europe.

Thanks for having the decency to let me know that you will be leaving and will not be able to write me a letter. I thought about writing her a "hateful" email but thought better of it.

I know that writing LORs are not high on professors" priority list but I just think its very inconsiderate to pull something shady like that.

 

[whacked07]

now i'm trying to figure out who should i ask for the 3rd LOR (since PCO needs 3 science teachers). THe problem is..I took my science course about 3-5 years ago and most of them were TA's, whom I don't recall their names or whether if they're still around or that they didn't know me quite that well either ....what I'm going to do is call PCO tomorrow and ask.

Anyone apply for PCO? Did you guys also have to send in 3 LOR from 3 science teachers?

😕

 

[braxton]

I had to ask the director of physics to write my letter of recommendation. I had taken physics 3 years before I asked for the letter of recommendation. The professor didn't remember me and all of the ta's had moved on. The director of physics, although very slow in writing the letter, had all of my grades and was willing to write it.

 

[GGelato9]

now i'm trying to figure out who should i ask for the 3rd LOR (since PCO needs 3 science teachers). THe problem is..I took my science course about 3-5 years ago and most of them were TA's, whom I don't recall their names or whether if they're still around or that they didn't know me quite that well either ....what I'm going to do is call PCO tomorrow and ask.

Anyone apply for PCO? Did you guys also have to send in 3 LOR from 3 science teachers?

😕

I applied to PCO and got an interview, but I had a science professor, a science TA and then an optometrist write me my letters of rec! No way could I have gotten 3 science professors to write me letters haha.
But yeah call PCO and make sure!🙂

 

[whacked07]

Thanks guys for the info! As for getting the chair of a particular department, they can still write a LOR even if he or she has never known you before?

 

[eye candy]

now i'm trying to figure out who should i ask for the 3rd LOR (since PCO needs 3 science teachers). THe problem is..I took my science course about 3-5 years ago and most of them were TA's, whom I don't recall their names or whether if they're still around or that they didn't know me quite that well either ....what I'm going to do is call PCO tomorrow and ask.

Anyone apply for PCO? Did you guys also have to send in 3 LOR from 3 science teachers?

😕

I used 2 professors and one anatomy T.A for my references to PCO, and I got accepted in october. So I think things will work out for you this year.

 

[braxton]

Department Chair worked for me and the Optometry school did not have a problem with it. The Department Chair was actually better because they had all my final grades, quizzes, and exams and were able to say how I did overall.