The Application Process

We all know about the importance of reference letters. Therefore, it is usually a very good idea to start thinking about whom you are going to ask way ahead of time. It is a good idea to give your recommenders at least 6 to 8 weeks to write the letter, and is an even better idea to get in contact and tell them about your plans 3 to 4 months before the application deadline.

I asked three people for recommendation letters: 2 former professors and 1 former manager (president of a company I worked for). The two professors came through and provided me with the letters two weeks before MY set deadline (and I do emphasize MY, because my deadline was 3 weeks before the school’s deadline). I asked each recommender – the former employer included – six months in advance. I asked that rogue manager a YEAR before the application deadline; before my departure from his company, I told him about my plans and asked if I can rely on him for a recommendation. His answer was an absolute YES.

Therefore, it was with a chest filled with confidence that I touched base with him six months after his fateful promise. At that time, he once again told me about how happy he would be to provide me with a letter. Fast forward 4 months – 2 months prior to the set deadline – and I provided him with the recommendation forms and my essays to go by for inspiration. We shook hands, exchanged smiles and pats on the back and off I went. This was in mid-August. However, I can read people like a map, and something caused me to worry about his reliability. My fiancé told me that I was just being paranoid. I contacted him by mid-September without receiving a response from him. I e-mailed him once again in the 1st week of October, just to follow up. No reply. He must be busy, I though to myself. However, I made a deal with myself, were he to leave my high and dry, I would ask a former professor – and current director of a research Lab that I am a participant of – for a recommendation, three weeks before my set deadline. Another e-mail followed at the beginning of November – the deadline I set for all of the recommenders was November 11th – and simply provided the rogue manager with a friendly reminder. Once again, absolute silence in my inbox.

I finally received all of my recommendation letters – absent the ones from that manager – by November 11th and sent off my applications with a light heart. However, this story should serve as a cautionary tale to all of the members of this forum. Build redundancies into your application. That way, when someone does not come through, there is another individual that can patch up the “hole” in your candidacy. Make sure that you identify more recommenders than you need, and stay in touch with them well before you need a letter from them. However, do not be pretentious; tell them at once why you are contacting them. Throughout the period leading up to your application deadline, update them on your accomplishments and what you are doing and how their letter fits in with these activities.

In the end, it is better to end up with too many letters than feeling that sinking feeling as you realize that the deadline is going to come and pass, and you will still be sitting around waiting for that unfulfilled promise to materialize.

Good luck to all!

P.S. It is now November 18th, and I am yet to hear from that wonderfully "helpful" recommender...