Prof forgot about my LOR. Is that a bad sign - should I find someone else?

[skiing]

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I asked for an LOR from a Professor in April. I asked her to write it by June 5. No word since then. I got an A+ in her class.

Is this a bad sign... that she forgot about my letter? She did say that spring quarter was very busy for her - teaching 2 classes + running a lab, so I get that, but can I trust her to still write me a strong letter? If I ask her about it now, will she just throw together something haphazard really quickly to just get it overwith?

 

[CodeBlu]

I really would find another letter...

Do you know this professor extremely well?

Find someone who is more capable to write about your abilities.

 

[demh23]

Greetz,

Wöuldn't hurt to follow up with her.. Yes she probably forgot but not with malintensions.

Unkle dolan

 

[wololololololo]

Find a backup just in case. Same thing happened to me. I TA'd for this professor, got an A in his class, and asked him back in Feb. Totally blew me off.

 

[chemistryguy]

She was probably just busy. If you know her pretty well this shouldnt deter you from getting a letter from her. I dont think she will just throw something together. Shes probably written many letter before and can write one fairly quickly, and as long as you have a good relationship with you and can actually say something about you it should be fine.

 

[misssciencenerd]

Same thing happened to me. I reminded a professor every single day (they asked me to)...then they went on a trip and promised to do it on the plane.
And they still didn't do it....I even reminded them at graduation. And nothing...

You have to just scrap it and find someone else.

 

[KTownGT]

No. Professors are notoriously busy people, especially if they have a title.

It is not rude to check up a few weeks/months before the letter is due btw.

 

[skiing]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

So surprisingly, my professor emailed me out of the blue because she heard about something she saw on the news. I didn't have a deep relationship with her, but she emailed me. I then thanked her for the congratulations and reminded her about the letter (1.5 mo late) and she sent it the next day.

So, I'm just sharing what I learned from this experience this for others who think their letter writers forgot about them too: they're not necessarily negligent or uncaring, but it's good to remind them... I feared that my professor probably hated me/ forgot about me/ didn't care, but it was actually none of the above. Go figure.