EDIT LOR UPDATE: How long after asking should you follow up? Forum

[bombaysippin]

As the title states...

I've used the search function and maybe wasn't using the right keywords, but couldn't find anything.

Basically, I asked for LORS in the beginning of May. I told my recommenders that I would need the recommendations before September 1st. I haven't heard anything back and on LSAC (though I can't find it now) there was an alert before about how my requests weren't acknowledged or something like that.

Is it too soon to ask for an update on my LORs? If it's not and/or for the possible future, how would you go about asking for an update?

Is it as simple as writing a small email asking how they are doing and if there has been any progress made on my LOR?

Thanks TLS.

[North]

May? Yeah, it's time to check in, IMO. Shoot them a polite e-mail asking how it's going and whether you can provide any additional information to make it easier.

[bombaysippin]

Okay so I've sent out emails asking for updates and have received one response back.

My new question is how long do I wait for the other professor to respond back? Do I wait a week (2? more?) after my original email asking for an update to ask again or is that just annoying?

How would I go about it?

Thanks everyone.

[magickware]

Did they ever get back to you saying that they will write you a letter? Your OP seems to suggest that they never responded to even your initial request.

Anyways, this is quite important for you. I don't think pestering people who agreed to write a LOR for you is an issue at all. They should expect it, in fact.

If they never agreed in the first place, on the other hand...

[bombaysippin]

Did they ever get back to you saying that they will write you a letter? Your OP seems to suggest that they never responded to even your initial request.

Anyways, this is quite important for you. I don't think pestering people who agreed to write a LOR for you is an issue at all. They should expect it, in fact.

If they never agreed in the first place, on the other hand...

They agreed to it back in May and I was just asking for updates because it had been a couple of months without a word. The last correspondence I had was in May.

[ManOfTheMinute]

May? Yeah, it's time to check in, IMO. Shoot them a polite e-mail asking how it's going and whether you can provide any additional information to make it easier.

[A. Nony Mouse]

It's perfectly appropriate to have checked in, but there's still 6 weeks before Sept. 1 and most profs put teaching stuff aside in the summer and work on other stuff. If you said you wanted them by Sept 1, you're probably going to get them the last week of August. (Which still leaves you plenty of time for applications, of course.) If you don't hear back/depending what you hear back, you could drop them another e-mail around August 15 or 22 or so. At that point you could just say you're checking in and ask whether they need any more info, but I wouldn't worry about it for now. Profs are like everyone else - if there's a deadline 4 months away, most people won't get to the task for at least 3 months. You've already given them a deadline well before you need the letters for applications.

[Rory19]

Okay so I've sent out emails asking for updates and have received one response back.

My new question is how long do I wait for the other professor to respond back? Do I wait a week (2? more?) after my original email asking for an update to ask again or is that just annoying?

How would I go about it?

Thanks everyone.

I would wait a week and then do something drastic.........pick up a phone and leave them a message. "Hello Professor so and so, I was just calling to see if you needed any additional materials from me in preparing my letter of reference for law school. Please feel free to contact me with any questions and thank you again for your support." Voicemail follow-ups to e-mails are VERY effective in my professional experience. Even better, you get lucky and they actually are in their office in the summer and they can confirm the timeline right then.