oto invites without letters?

[strongyloides]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

question, suppose I won't have all my LORs (particularly the ENT letters) until november. will this negatively impact my applications significantly?

 

[exmike]

question, suppose I won't have all my LORs (particularly the ENT letters) until november. will this negatively impact my applications significantly?

yes. the vast majority of programs will not invite you until your app is complete. By november, more than 2/3 of programs are done handing out invites, so i would do anything, ANYTHING, to get those letters in earlier. It's only september, how could it possibly take two whole months to get them?

And yes, there are a handful of programs that will invite based on stats alone. but most wont.

 

[strongyloides]

It's only september, how could it possibly take two whole months to get them?

I asked for the letter 7 weeks ago. So far no letter and no response to a gentle email reminder. So my next step is to call next week and attempt to speak in person (not always easy to reach attending via phone as you well know). I can only assume it's not written and we're back at ground zero. In other words, another 7 weeks... I feel awful about it already. I just asked another attending but I think the best he can do is atleast a month.

 

[Wardens]

Another useful tip I heard is to ask their secretary if they have one. They're used to being nagged by their secretaries, so they won't mind.

 

[exmike]

Another useful tip I heard is to ask their secretary if they have one. They're used to being nagged by their secretaries, so they won't mind.

thats what i did. definitely bug the secretary (nicely)

 

[strongyloides]

so If I'm to ask a new person, and they ask me "when do you need it by?"
What's a nice way of saying yesterday?

 

[Wardens]

I guess when they ask when you need it, you could just say "as soon as you can, if possible" and try to sincerely apologize for asking at the last minute. I suppose there's no easy way. If that doesn't work, I would emphasize having it submitted by the end of september.

 

[neutropeniaboy]

I asked for the letter 7 weeks ago. So far no letter and no response to a gentle email reminder...I just asked another attending but I think the best he can do is atleast a month.

I don't know your circumstances, but it doesn't take a month to write a recommendation letter. I've written and reviewed letters before, and I know this because it takes me an afternoon, 2 days tops to write a letter. After reading many letters, I have come to the conclusion that many of them are crap and couldn't possibly take more than 5 minutes to write.

So, you may want to consider the possibility that the attending doesn't feel like he or she can honestly write you a good letter of recommendation...hence the delay.