LOR Problems

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MCATISEZ

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I am working on collecting letters of recommendation from my professors for this cycle. I have asked those I believed could write the best letters, and all have agreed. I asked for most of them in March and gave them a deadline of June 1st. However, only two of my letters have been submitted to Interfolio.

In particular, one professor told me he would have the letter submitted within a couple weeks. I emailed after nearly a month, and he said he was waiting on the link from Interfolio to submit. After letting him know I resent it he emailed me back saying "Thanks. Now I have received it." Now, a week later, I sent him another reminder (but received no response yet).

Is it typical for professors to do these at the last minute prior to the deadline you give them? I am finding it difficult to remind them, putting my mind at ease, and not being irritating.

I understand I do not need these letters until I submit my secondaries. But what is considered "early"/"on-time"/"late" for having the letters in? I've found several schools of thought on SDN.

Thank you guys!

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breeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaatheeeeeeeee

they are busy adult type people. i am sure you are on the list and that's before even considering that stuff might be happening in their lives. get everything else in and/or ready.
 
very typical in my experience. better to ask for the letters in the winter and give them a deadline of april/may if you want to spare yourself the headache. complete by labor day is "early." end of september is average and end of october is on the late side. you can still submit your primary and secondaries without letters of rec, but I would probably keep emailing them every so often just to remind them.
 
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very typical in my experience. better to ask for the letters in the winter and give them a deadline of april/may if you want to spare yourself the headache. complete by labor day is "early." end of september is average and end of october is on the late side. you can still submit your primary and secondaries without letters of rec, but I would probably keep emailing them every so often just to remind them.

Oh wow. I was under the impression that being complete at the start of September would be on-time/late at best. If my letters come in by the end of June, would it make any difference? If schools do not start sending secondaries until the start of July at the earliest, does that mean getting your letters in before that is not beneficial?

A lot of my professors are not in their office/on campus during the summer (do not have labs or teach summer classes). Reminding them in person in the fall would likely be much more effective.
 
Oh wow. I was under the impression that being complete at the start of September would be on-time/late at best. If my letters come in by the end of June, would it make any difference? If schools do not start sending secondaries until the start of July at the earliest, does that mean getting your letters in before that is not beneficial?
As an applicant, it's nice to have your letters in before the secondaries start rolling. This is because once you receive a secondary, the only thing you have to do before being marked as complete is to return the secondary (you aren't waiting on another professor to upload a letter). If you have your professors upload the letters anytime in June or July, you're set - not behind the curve in any way. If a professor doesn't get their letter in until August/September, you're still in really good shape.
The situation you really want to avoid is completing your secondary by August, and then having to wait until October/November for your professor to submit a letter.
 
I agree not to stress but disagree about them being "busy adults". Politely ride them because they are 9/10 being lazy.
 
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