Asked prof for letter of recommendation 2 weeks ago

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
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Should I shoot him an email asking about the status of it? The dude I'm getting to write me one is the head of the school of IS at my university, so I'm sure he's got enough on his plate... and I don't want it to come off as me being impatient. Is 2 weeks a reasonable amount of time to expect a letter of recommendation to be completed?
 

Cattlegod

Diamond Member
May 22, 2001
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did you ask in person or over email?

either way, email is not the way to communicate regarding a recommendation letter, unless you want him to touch on your "passive" traits.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
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Send an email thanking him profusely for the letter and offering to buy him lunch or something when you pick it up. It's a reminder and incentive but isn't nagging.
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
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I met him in person at the beginning of the term to discuss careers, course focus, etc. and asked him at the end of my meeting if he'd write me a recommendation for studying abroad this summer.

Edit: Forgot to mention he was a professor of mine last year, so it wasn't like I just met him out of the blue and asked him to write me a letter. :p
 

poopygood

Senior member
Apr 14, 2002
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i gave my 3 people 6 weeks, and one still had to gently reminded about the deadline.

Be careful how you word your reminder to him/her.
 

db

Lifer
Dec 6, 1999
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*IF* he would write a rec is a hypothetical question. You must ask specifically if he *will* write one, soon, please.
 

hypn0tik

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2005
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I was in the same situation earlier. Just send them an e-mail to remind them.

Mine looked something along the lines of this.

Professor XYZ,

Thank you very much for agreeing to write a letter of reference for me. I would just like to remind you that the deadline for ABC is due in N days. If you could submit the letter by then, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.

- hypn0tik
 

montanafan

Diamond Member
Nov 7, 1999
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Did you give him a specific date that you needed it by? Seeing your thread just reminded me that I have to write one for a student who said he needed it by this Friday. When someone asks me to write them a letter of recommendation I ask them when exactly they need it, and if it's over a week from when they ask, I tell them to remind me a few days before they need it. He may need a reminder, but do it in the way HotChic suggested, or maybe something like, "I was just wondering what would be a good day to stop by and pick it up.".
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
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Originally posted by: db
*IF* he would write a rec is a hypothetical question. You must ask specifically if he *will* write one, soon, please.

Well it had to be on a specific form... which I gave him at the meeting.

Thanks for all your advice guys.