To all poor souls still waiting for LORs from Professors

[Rainbow Zebra]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Thought I would share my saga, as the wind is totally knocked out of my sails.

Volunteered in a research lab for 1.5 years (about 1,000 hours), was an author on an abstract, got acknowledged for some original art work that was published in one of their papers, and will be a co-author on a paper in preparation. All in all, I think we had a pretty productive 1.5 years together. THe grad student (MD/PhD) I worked most closely with is now in residency. This was totally unpaid work, of which I commuted an hour to go to lab to train my successors after I graduated.

I asked the professor of the lab in APRIL if he would write me a strong LOR, and he said absolutely (I still have the email).
Reminded him again in June, then July 1, saying he would have it done by the end of the week. Didn't happen. Sent him another reminder today. I feel I'm just annoying him now. I also finally called the grad student (who is now an intern in DC), and he was totally pissed at the Professor, and offered to write the letter for me if the professor flaked out. This is my plan B, but I'm pretty devastated that the Professor would renege on this request. I feel I have no recourse, other than to suck it up, and have to explain to schools why my letter never appeared (and I have no good explanation).

My sob story. I need to commiserate with others who also have LOR issues. May we all hoist a pint in unity of our plight.

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

I feel you. While I had transcript issues rather than LOR issues, it still felt terrible for something so outside of my hands to hinder my application. I hope something materializes soon, but if not, maybe start calling individual med schools and explain your situation? Or send the grad school student one and explain then?

Best of luck though!

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I had similar experience, asked him 4 months ago, and talked to him again near the end of June. No letter arrived, and he never answered emails or phone calls. I ended up driving to his house unannounced and delivering him a pre-addressed envelope to AMCAS. I hope it is in the mail now... Regardless, he wasn't annoyed at all, it was much easier for him to simply write the letter, slip it into the envelope, and drop it in the mailbox.

 

[yummygummie]

Stay strong!

My PI was the same way. He was very excited about writing my LOR when I asked him, but he was just a really busy person. I found that being very direct about when you want your LOR (i.e. one week, two) helped my PI finish in a timely manner. Have you tried talking to your professor in person? Talking to him face-to-face could motivate him more than an email...🙂

 

[hoihaie]

Thought I would share my saga, as the wind is totally knocked out of my sails.

Volunteered in a research lab for 1.5 years (about 1,000 hours), was an author on an abstract, got acknowledged for some original art work that was published in one of their papers, and will be a co-author on a paper in preparation. All in all, I think we had a pretty productive 1.5 years together. THe grad student (MD/PhD) I worked most closely with is now in residency. This was totally unpaid work, of which I commuted an hour to go to lab to train my successors after I graduated.

I asked the professor of the lab in APRIL if he would write me a strong LOR, and he said absolutely (I still have the email).
Reminded him again in June, then July 1, saying he would have it done by the end of the week. Didn't happen. Sent him another reminder today. I feel I'm just annoying him now. I also finally called the grad student (who is now an intern in DC), and he was totally pissed at the Professor, and offered to write the letter for me if the professor flaked out. This is my plan B, but I'm pretty devastated that the Professor would renege on this request. I feel I have no recourse, other than to suck it up, and have to explain to schools why my letter never appeared (and I have no good explanation).

My sob story. I need to commiserate with others who also have LOR issues. May we all hoist a pint in unity of our plight.

Happened to me too and I was still working in the lab. Ended up asking the secretary to remind everyday and doing so myself as well. Got the letter a month after the initial deadline I gave him

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Stay strong!

My PI was the same way. He was very excited about writing my LOR when I asked him, but he was just a really busy person. I found that being very direct about when you want your LOR (i.e. one week, two) helped my PI finish in a timely manner. Have you tried talking to your professor in person? Talking to him face-to-face could motivate him more than an email...🙂

Thanks for your story. Maybe the professors are truly the absent mindedd professors. Anyway I had a good stress cry and reading your responses make me feel less,alone. I will continue to bug him weekly.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Happened to me too and I was still working in the lab. Ended up asking the secretary to remind everyday and doing so myself as well. Got the letter a month after the initial deadline I gave him

Thank you for your input. I will stay strong and just bug the carp out of him until he Writes it just to get me to go away! I am on a mission, and maybe I will bake him my famous cookies!

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Thanks for your story. Maybe the professors are truly the absent mindedd professors. Anyway I had a good stress cry and reading your responses make me feel less,alone. I will continue to bug him weekly.

Can you not make an in-person visit? Sometimes it is the only option for professors that aren't tech savvy.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Can you not make an in-person visit? Sometimes it is the only option for professors that aren't tech savvy.

Oh he is plenty techd savvy, answers emails day/night. I thinking of baking cookies and driving up. Maybe guilt will work.

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

Still, in-person visits tend to be really effective. I'd go with this if no letter shows up in the next few days.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Holy crap, after reading this thread I checked my email and saw an email from a professor that I met with in November of 2014, who agreed to write me a LOR, and then I was completely unable to contact. I even left a note in his mail box (although he is retired I once saw him picking up mail there). I went back a few months ago and saw that my note was still there. I gave up all hope. He just emailed me saying that he will write my letter tomorrow! Now I have to decide if I want to use his letter, or the other science professor I asked when I gave up...

 

[yummygummie]

Oh he is plenty techd savvy, answers emails day/night. I thinking of baking cookies and driving up. Maybe guilt will work.

Same with my PI! He seemed to be answering everyone's emails but mine. Don't take it personally, just keep on reminding him politely and hopefully he'll finish it soon.

Reminds me of when a writer I asked for LOR from randomly uploaded it one year later...I had given up on communicating with him, but you never know!

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Same with my PI! He seemed to be answering everyone's emails but mine. Don't take it personally, just keep on reminding him politely and hopefully he'll finish it soon.

Reminds me of when a writer I asked for LOR from randomly uploaded it one year later...I had given up on communicating with him, but you never know!

Yes strategy is now he can expect an email from me every Sunday afternoon until It gets loaded. And cookies will be baked and I will go up to the lab. Everyone will ask why I am back! I will be gracious, but make sure I go when the prof is there.

 

[vellez]

You'd think that a lot of notice would be best, but I swear, some professors wanted me to say "Hey, I need that letter tomorrow". Don't be afraid to be this direct and to give this short of deadline, if needed.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

You'd think that a lot of notice would be best, but I swear, some professors wanted me to say "Hey, I need that letter tomorrow". Don't be afraid to be this direct and to give this short of deadline, if needed.

Oh I gave him multiple deadlines. He even said on July 8 he would have it done by weeks end. Did not happen. He is really busy but he is starting to mess with me a bit. My grad student is more angry than I am. Maybe he will rattle his cage too. Very exhausting. Good luck to you and thanks for the encouragement.

 

[The Cheat]

I feel for you RZ. I almost b*tched out one of my letter writers because he was seriously stalling. Thankfully I didn't and I hope that he gave me a good LOR.

Now if I was made king of everything (or just the king of AMCAS), I would have applicants go through phone screens or some form of remote interview before being invited for a final, on site interview. That way a school can get a look at an applicant without having to rely on some third party.

 

[Ad2b]

One of my LOR writers is one of my all-time, through 300+ credits, favorite professors. His teaching accolades precede him before you walk into his classroom. He was also my "B" ...

Long story short: he asked for my AMCAS package back in May, I gave it to him in June not knowing there was a pdf view vs. the @#$s I printed out. No LOR yet.

So, I've waited patiently and finished physics. With an "A" ... actually, 3 of them 🙂 This week when the grade is finalized, I'm going to send him the adcom pdf view along with my physics grade and ask him if he is still comfortable giving me a strong LOR.

Gives me a way to redeem myself (due to the crap I sent him - seriously, wish I would have known about the pdf view) and my physics grade.

Rainbow, don't sweat it. These professors know the pressure we're under; I think sometimes, we just need to give them breathing room (not that you haven't) ...

 

[H4H4]

I'm just praying that one of my letter author's doesn't kick the bucket any time soon! In fact, he hasn't responded to any of my emails or voicemails in the past 2 weeks... I hope he's OK! 🙁

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Reporting in that the LOR got uploaded last night at 10PM. He sent me an email saying he was holding it up for our paper submission to make the LOR stronger (which has been in the workings for 9 months, so I wasn't holding my breath). I thanked him, and said when the paper gets accepted, it will be a good update for schools, but I really needed to get complete early! I will still bake the cookies and run them up next week. This was the most stressful thing, I guess because it was out of my control. I'll connect with my grad student, as he may have emailed the prof to tell him the LOR now was more important than a late submission with a paper authorship. Can always update schools if it gets accepted (Associate Prof is going for full Professorship, I heard, so this Nature submission is a big deal for him).

Thanks SDN folks for all the support!! Best wishes to all.