So frustrated-recommender STILL hasn't handed in letter Forum

[taylorswiftfan]

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[bombaysippin]

Uhmm when did you ask them for these letters?

[taylorswiftfan]

how much time are they supposed to have to write the letters?

[bound]

how much time are they supposed to have to write the letters?

I gave mine about 3-6 months notice (depended on the recommender)

[taylorswiftfan]

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[bombaysippin]

I would think minimum 3 months. Mine took about double, but I had asked early enough that it wasn't a problem. So since you last sent something, it has only been less than a month? If so, I think you would be rushing your profs.

[JazzieShizzle]

I think you have to start counting from mid-January. I'm sorry, but prior to that they did not have the information they needed to write your letter.

However, If you have the minimum amount of LORs to submit your applications, I recommend doing so. If not, ask someone else as a backup. Either way, email those people and acknowledge and apologize that you got your resume and PS to them later than you anticipated. Then politely tell them how important it is that they submit their letter soon, offer to help them with it, and thank them for their time. I wouldn't mention the deadline. Deadlines are kind of arbitrary with rolling admissions anyway.

If you are able to submit your apps now and you get a LOR after the fact, LSAC will forward them to the schools at no additional charge. So, there's that.


ETA: by "offer to help them with it" I mean offer additional information to them or something like that, do NOT draft a letter for them.

[taylorswiftfan]

Thank you for all of your help. At this point I think it's best that i wait until the date that my recommender said he would try to submit by, and see what happens. What do you think? The one recommendation that I do have is from a recommender who has written academic recommendations for me in the past (not law related) and simply used the same one and reformatted it (i know this because they told me they would do that) so I really want to get an additional rec.

[BPlaura]

As long as you phrase it respectfully, it shouldn't be a problem to send a quick "hey, we talked about getting the letter submitted by x date; does it still look like that will be possible?"-type email. Just be careful with the tone of the email because, as others have said, you asked for the letters relatively recently so you're not giving the letter-writers a ton of time.

[taylorswiftfan]

Do you think it would be better for me now to just submit the apps that either --don't need a rec or need only one rec? I got one rec so far. Still waiting on the other one...

I'm not sure what is more important- getting a really great second rec and submitting apps later OR submitting them now with one rec.

[JazzieShizzle]

Definitely submit whatever apps you can now. LORs supplement apps, they do not make apps.

I held onto my apps for a while because I was waiting for one particular LOR. I ended up giving up on it and I submitted most of my apps without it. My recommender did eventually send in the LOR, but 2 of my applications had been accepted in the meantime. Don't wait.

[taylorswiftfan]

Well the thing is that i'm applying to a lot of schools that are slight reaches or 50 50s so i'm wondering if i should wait for that recommendation letter that could be very supportive towards my app.... or should i still just submit now?

[rendlelaw]

Just play it real cool. Send something like,

"Professor X,

Hope everything is going well! I know you're busy so I just thought I'd send you a quick reminder about my recommendation for February 20. If there's any problems, please let me know. Happy Valentine's Day!

~Wolverine"

It's not annoying, it's quick, and probably most importantly, it looks routine, like something you send to everyone.

[taylorswiftfan]

Yeah i emailed my recommender last night about the letter and they said they were going to submit it today. It got submitted today. Now I'm worried they wrote a bad rec or hurriedly wrote one that was not positive--since they wrote it so fast and I did not give them ample time. Is that a possibility? Or am i just overthinking?

[John Everyman]

Yeah i emailed my recommender last night about the letter and they said they were going to submit it today. It got submitted today. Now I'm worried they wrote a bad rec or hurriedly wrote one that was not positive--since they wrote it so fast and I did not give them ample time. Is that a possibility? Or am i just overthinking?

If anything you probably got a more glowing recommendation because they felt bad about taking so long, unless they didn't like you much to begin with.