LOR advice! Forum

[pavementfan]

Some backstory:

Asked my professor for a letter of rec for law school in June, and he agreed (he's also written me a letter of rec before). Important to note that this professor and I have an amazing relationship, I took many of his classes and recruited other students to take his small seminars as well. He has told people within our community that I am one of his favorite students he has had. He also was leading a creative/research project and I was pretty integral (because of my position within my clubs and ECS) in securing him thousands of dollars in funding, and connecting him with good people for his project. He's become something of a role model, and we email each other about once every few weeks updating on life/professional developments.

HOWEVER, about two weeks ago, I sent a reply to him about an email asking me follow up questions on how my summer been and how my new job is. He never responded. Last week, I emailed him telling him he should be getting an LOR request, and giving him a soft deadline. He never responded.

It's now been two weeks without a response which is super out of character. I want him to hurry and submit the rec (all other elements of my apps are complete), but don't know what my next step should be now that I have sent out two emails. I also have his phone ### through other forms I had to fill out a year ago, but I feel as though that crosses a line in our relationship/his privacy. Does anyone have any ideas on what I should do next?

[thriller1122]

I think you could definitely call him. I might swing by his office too.

Not really LOR related, but if he is acting super out of character maybe something is wrong (marital troubles, mental issues, i dont know). Its probably just a busy time, but it never hurts to check in with people. As I understand your relationship, maybe you swing by and check how he's doing, bring a coffee or something. Im sure its nothing, but you'll probably get your answer and do some good for your fellow man while youre at it.

[thriller1122]

I dont know how to edit, but...
EDIT: I thought you were talking about his office number. If it is his personal number and you dont want to do that, I would just skip straight to dropping by the office.

[pavementfan]

Can’t swing by his office because he moved to a different state unfortunately

And it’s his personal number for what it’s worth! There’s really no other professor I can ask at this point for a LOR— all my eggs are in this basket unfortunately

[nixy]

If he moved to a new state for a new teaching position, this is basically the busiest time of the year ever, and it’s still really early for apps. I’d give him a couple more weeks. Anything submitted before November is early (are applications even open yet?). You said that you guys email once every few weeks, so while no response in two weeks may be uncharacteristic, it’s also not yet an emergency or completely out of the ordinary. What was the soft deadline you gave him? Has it passed yet?

Plus if he moved for a new teaching job you can contact the new school and get an office phone number for him.

[thriller1122]

Can’t swing by his office because he moved to a different state unfortunately

And it’s his personal number for what it’s worth! There’s really no other professor I can ask at this point for a LOR— all my eggs are in this basket unfortunately

Thats tough then. I'd echo what the previous poster said. Sorry for the stress.

[pavementfan]

Thanks so much for all your help and calming me down a bit. I set September 22nd as the deadline. To my understanding, he was planning on taking a sabbatical before getting back into teaching, so he is not currently working at any university.

I'm thinking to give it one more week, and then call him on his personal phone number. Does that sound fair?

[nixy]

So if he’s on sabbatical he’s probably on a totally different schedule (possibly traveling as well). Did your previous emails expressly ask for him to answer in some way? And profs are notorious for waiting to the last minute, so chances are good he’s not planning to write it until the 20th or 21st. Because Sept 22 is still really early, application-wise, I would maybe email again in a week and ask him to confirm that the 22nd will be okay or if he will need more time. He may not have realized you were looking for an answer, and if you said Sept 22, he’s not going to expect you to be looking for this until Sept 22. I wouldn’t call him until Sept 22. (Again, because this is all still really early, application-wise, so you’re not going to suffer in any way from waiting.)

[pavementfan]

Update for future panicked idiots like me: he responded (extremely receptively) to my email, and was obviously just busy with something super important