Potentially negative LOR? Need advice!

[Fargofargo]

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So I posted this also on pre-osteo but would like more feedback on it!

So this letter is from my anatomy professor. I got good grades from his class and even TAed for him. Got to know him personally and really got to know each other really well.


When I graduated, I told him that I will be taking a gap year. I also let him know that I will be requesting a LOR from him a year later. He agreed and told me to keep in touch by email.

When it came to LOR writing time, I sent him an email updating him on my life and stuff. I moved away from my college town. However he didn't reply to my first request. So I continued to send him friendly and casual update emails, about 4-5 emails, from 9/2013 to 3/2014. However, he never replied to any. I even called him office. I knew that he is a very busy guy, recently just took on the job as the department advisor and stuff.


Then randomly in 4/2014 I see that he uploaded the LOR to interfolio. I right away sent him a thank you email and mailed him a thank you card as well. He didn't reply to those either.



Should I be worried here? I feel like he might just got annoyed by me and just wrote a letter to get me off his back. But he doesn't seem like the type to do that. Although even when I was back in school, he was pretty hard to reach via email.


I also read on SDN that people have sent the LOR to their pre med advisors to have them look at to see if it's a positive, negative or neutral letter, without disclosing any content. Anyone know of this?


Thanks for your input!

 

[allre]

I feel like we got letters from the same person. Got a LoR from an anatomy professor (whose class I got an A in and also TA'd) who was initially very enthusiastic, then dead silence after updates, then a random upload of the letter to Interfolio, then silence after a thank you email.

 

[allantois]

He doesn't sound like somebody I would want a letter from for myself

 

[DokterMom]

You're being unnecessarily neurotic --

You had every reason to expect a strong letter. He agreed to write one. He got busy, fell behind, was very probably embarrassed about it. You reminded him, as any responsible person would have done. He got it done, but didn't want to have to apologize for his tardiness.

If you want, you can drop him a quick email saying that you saw he had submitted it and thanking him for his time. That will let him know he doesn't have to feel embarrassed talking with you again should the occasion ever arise.

 

[Goro]

Some people simply don't look at or respond to email.

See how this app cycle goes.

So I posted this also on pre-osteo but would like more feedback on it!

So this letter is from my anatomy professor. I got good grades from his class and even TAed for him. Got to know him personally and really got to know each other really well.


When I graduated, I told him that I will be taking a gap year. I also let him know that I will be requesting a LOR from him a year later. He agreed and told me to keep in touch by email.

When it came to LOR writing time, I sent him an email updating him on my life and stuff. I moved away from my college town. However he didn't reply to my first request. So I continued to send him friendly and casual update emails, about 4-5 emails, from 9/2013 to 3/2014. However, he never replied to any. I even called him office. I knew that he is a very busy guy, recently just took on the job as the department advisor and stuff.


Then randomly in 4/2014 I see that he uploaded the LOR to interfolio. I right away sent him a thank you email and mailed him a thank you card as well. He didn't reply to those either.



Should I be worried here? I feel like he might just got annoyed by me and just wrote a letter to get me off his back. But he doesn't seem like the type to do that. Although even when I was back in school, he was pretty hard to reach via email.


I also read on SDN that people have sent the LOR to their pre med advisors to have them look at to see if it's a positive, negative or neutral letter, without disclosing any content. Anyone know of this?


Thanks for your input!

 

[hoihaie]

that's totally normal for busy professors. They simply don't see the need to respond to you

 

[type12]

Send it to someone who can check its contents on your behalf. You would not be violating the confidentiality, but you'll know if it is a positive or negative one. Send it to your employer, or school, or anyone basically.

 

[NYCdude]

At the least, busy professors respond "Yes" or "No." Not responding at all is just a douche thing to do.

 

[hoihaie]

At the least, busy professors respond "Yes" or "No." Not responding at all is just a douche thing to do.

not really. My PI never responds to my emails unless it actually requires a response and not just an acknowledgement. And he is the furthest thing from a "douche"

 

[baxt1412]

not really. My PI never responds to my emails unless it actually requires a response and not just an acknowledgement. And he is the furthest thing from a "douche"

n=1

in general, acknowledging someone's existence and that they received your email is a common courtesy. yes he sent the letter, but would it have killed him to send a "got the letter sent. good luck" email? if someone claims they are that busy, they better not be on angry birds or candy crush the entire day, etc... u could answer those kind of emails on the toilet lol.

 

[mysdnhandle]

So I posted this also on pre-osteo but would like more feedback on it!

So this letter is from my anatomy professor. I got good grades from his class and even TAed for him. Got to know him personally and really got to know each other really well.


When I graduated, I told him that I will be taking a gap year. I also let him know that I will be requesting a LOR from him a year later. He agreed and told me to keep in touch by email.

When it came to LOR writing time, I sent him an email updating him on my life and stuff. I moved away from my college town. However he didn't reply to my first request. So I continued to send him friendly and casual update emails, about 4-5 emails, from 9/2013 to 3/2014. However, he never replied to any. I even called him office. I knew that he is a very busy guy, recently just took on the job as the department advisor and stuff.


Then randomly in 4/2014 I see that he uploaded the LOR to interfolio. I right away sent him a thank you email and mailed him a thank you card as well. He didn't reply to those either.



Should I be worried here? I feel like he might just got annoyed by me and just wrote a letter to get me off his back. But he doesn't seem like the type to do that. Although even when I was back in school, he was pretty hard to reach via email.


I also read on SDN that people have sent the LOR to their pre med advisors to have them look at to see if it's a positive, negative or neutral letter, without disclosing any content. Anyone know of this?


Thanks for your input!

Professors are busy people. Put yourself in their shoes. They usually do not waste their time writing bad letters of recommendation. Also based on my personal observations they are very used to replying to-the-point emails. All your fluffy unicorn fart stuff was noted, appreciated, and not replied to. Don't be needy.

Do you think you're a swell guy? Did you put forth your best? Are you a shining star like you say? If so then what are you worrying about?

If you expect to know everything in life you will go insane.

 

[Fargofargo]

Ya I'm gonna have faith in humanity so I'm just gonna go with it.

I highly doubt my teacher would take the time to write a negative letter and to sabotage my life lol


Thank ya'll for the inputs!