PI Not responding to LOR Request

[theWUbear]

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My PI at one point in passing said she would love to give me an LOR, and I always gave 100% effort and did good work with her, so I'm fairly confident she will write for me.

I wrote the formal email asking her on Monday. She had just came back from Africa and is flying out somewhere Friday (vice-chair of medicine so she's really busy), so she hasn't responded to my request. Obviously I should give it some more time before making another move. However, I was wondering at what point do I write again? How would I handle that? What's my next move? Thanks!

 

[Ignition]

My PI at one point in passing said she would love to give me an LOR, and I always gave 100% effort and did good work with her, so I'm fairly confident she will write for me.

I wrote the formal email asking her on Monday. She had just came back from Africa and is flying out somewhere Friday (vice-chair of medicine so she's really busy), so she hasn't responded to my request. Obviously I should give it some more time before making another move. However, I was wondering at what point do I write again? How would I handle that? What's my next move? Thanks!

Do you have her number? You could always try calling and, if she doesn't pick up, leave a nice message indicating you sent her an email with the details for the LOR.

 

[schrizto]

Ask her in person.

 

[newapple]

My PI at one point in passing said she would love to give me an LOR, and I always gave 100% effort and did good work with her, so I'm fairly confident she will write for me.

I wrote the formal email asking her on Monday. She had just came back from Africa and is flying out somewhere Friday (vice-chair of medicine so she's really busy), so she hasn't responded to my request. Obviously I should give it some more time before making another move. However, I was wondering at what point do I write again? How would I handle that? What's my next move? Thanks!

If you only asked your PI on Monday, I would definitely give her more time.

I sent an email about every 2 weeks or so either providing them with additional materials or just asking them what the status of the letter was. Definitely frustrating but I also always kept in mind that they were doing me the favor. Obviously, you don't want to have to wait 3 months, but have some patience.

 

[TexasPhysician]

You shouldn't ask for a LOR over e-mail. You need to set-up a meeting to talk about this with her. You should be ready with a CV, personal statement, etc. You should also mention when you need the letter by and add other important information. Doing this via e-mail is a no-no.

 

[Abdullaah]

You shouldn't ask for a LOR over e-mail. You need to set-up a meeting to talk about this with her. You should be ready with a CV, personal statement, etc. You should also mention when you need the letter by and add other important information. Doing this via e-mail is a no-no.

oops

To OP, just to add something that you may already know. Generally you're supposed to give letter writers a few weeks to write the letter (some people say 1, even 2, months). For someone as busy as the vice-chair you're describing, this is especially applicable.

As far as her not responding to your request, I suppose you can find out when she comes back from her trip, or what is the best way to reach her, and then try that early next week maybe. It depends where you are in the application timeline, i.e. you don't need letters until you start submitting secondaries.