How long did it take before you received your letters of recommendation from professors Forum

[mynameismyname]

How long did you professors take to send in your letters of recommendation?

[jeremydc]

It's a process. I sent two of my professors my information last week. Realized my writing sample was crap and asked them to hold off writing the recs.

Overall, around a month (a week chatting, 2 weeks reviewing my info, 1 week finalizing)

[TheodoreKGB]

I had one take a month or so. I had another recommender who was really excited and happy to help, and that letter was submitted in a few days.

There is definitely a varied timeframe that's recommender dependent. Is there a specific concern you have about your situation?

[mynameismyname]

It's been 3 weeks and I am waiting for two. I want to officially apply to 5 schools this week but I need at least one more lor in order to submit them. I want to email the professors but I don't want to "rush" them.

[TheodoreKGB]

It's been 3 weeks and I am waiting for two. I want to officially apply to 5 schools this week but I need at least one more lor in order to submit them. I want to email the professors but I don't want to "rush" them.

If it's within a week of the agreed upon deadline, it's okay to follow up with them in a polite manner.

[ihenry]

I didn't propose deadlines and all my recommenders took around two weeks to write. But I was pretty early in asking them to write recommendations (September). Recently as all deadlines, graduate schools and professional schools, are rolling near, they may have significantly more requests piling up. One of my profs mentioned she had eight requests for recommendation letters during our last class.

[RZ5646]

Many months. Request letters very early in the process (like 6 months ago) and send numerous reminders. Also have at least one backup professor in case your first two don't submit in time, forget about you, or whatever.

[jason_k]

It varies. If you ask a professor for a LOR during the end of the winter semester, when they are likely swamped by with finals, term papers, and LOR requests from other students, then you might get the LOR back late. On the other hand, if you give them plenty of heads up and occasionally remind me gently, you will probably get it in a reasonable time.
To make it easier on your profs, maybe let them now when your application deadlines are, and give them a rough draft of your personal statement so they have something to go on.
In my experience, I got the requested LOR within a week.
Good luck!