teachermom2834 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Ds requested LOR from two teachers back at the very beginning of the semester. His deadline is 11/1. In the common app we can see that one teacher has not yet logged in. The other teacher logged in and started it but never finished and submitted. His applications are in and the only missing part are the LOR. I'm not in a panic as there is still plenty of time. Just wondering how to proceed. Teacher #1- cc teacher ds had for a dual enrollment class. She started the LOR in early September. The other day ds sent her an email mentioning that it looks like it did not go through and could she attempt to submit again (his guidance counselor had missed the last page and hers was just listed as "started". I can see that she has logged in again since that email (which she did not respond to) and now her status is "started" with a date of 10/6. I'm not going to bug this teacher again anytime soon but I do wonder if she is just missing the final step to submit. Teacher #2- teacher from online class who had offered during the year to write LOR and responded positively when requested in late August. She has been sent the common app invite but has not started. I figure it is acceptable to send some sort of reminder as the deadline approaches? Or does that imply they can't remember/meet deadlines? If it is acceptable to send some sort of reminder when is that okay? Two weeks before deadline? One week? When deadline has passed and it is still missing? I don't think I would mind a reminder if I was a teacher but I don't think I'd like it at the very last minute if I had forgotten. Any guidance here? I realized we asked early but ds was trying to give the teachers the opportunity to do it before their semesters started if they wished. Also, he didn't have many options to ask so he was making sure they were willing to do it or else he would have been scrambling trying to find someone. I will admit I have a bit of a complex with asking people for favors so asking even once is uncomfortable for me. To keep asking is very very uncomfortable. I hate to think I am pestering people. (Of course, it is ds that is handling all of the recommenders. Someone is sure to point that out. It is not literally ME asking. Just trying to figure out how to advise ds). Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 I think it is perfectly appropriate to send a reminder. The beginning of the semester is a crazy busy time for a teacher, with lots of demands and tons of emails. That LOR ends up rather low on the priority list if one is swamped by urgent demands requiring immediate action. He should send the reminder with ample time so that the instructor can still compose a good LOR if he had forgotten. Two weeks before the deadline sounds good to me. If I had agreed to send a LOR, I would appreciate a reminder email about 2 weeks before the deadline, reminding me that the deadline was coming up. If it were phrased in a polite manner, I would not take it to imply that I am incapable of meeting a deadline, but would rather see it as a gesture that makes my life easier. A reminder too close to the deadline may cause the teacher to rush and not put thought into the letter. A reminder after the deadline is pointless. The teacher will feel bad or defensive and wonder why you had not reminded him sooner. Btw, you did not ask too early. Asking a few months before the deadline is an appropriate time scale. For letters due 11/1, a request should be made no later than early September. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 I think it is perfectly appropriate to send a reminder. The beginning of the semester is a crazy busy time for a teacher, with lots of demands and tons of emails. That LOR ends up rather low on the priority list if one is swamped by urgent demands requiring immediate action. He should send the reminder with ample time so that the instructor can still compose a good LOR if he had forgotten. Two weeks before the deadline sounds good to me. If I had agreed to send a LOR, I would appreciate a reminder email about 2 weeks before the deadline, reminding me that the deadline was coming up. If it were phrased in a polite manner, I would not take it to imply that I am incapable of meeting a deadline, but would rather see it as a gesture that makes my life easier. A reminder too close to the deadline may cause the teacher to rush and not put thought into the letter. A reminder after the deadline is pointless. The teacher will feel bad or defensive and wonder why you had not reminded him sooner. Btw, you did not ask too early. Asking a few months before the deadline is an appropriate time scale. For letters due 11/1, a request should be made no later than early September. Thank you! I am glad to see my thinking was not too far off. I will send a reminder two weeks out. I suspect this teacher has other LOR to do so I bet she has some time she is planning to do the whole lot before ED and EA deadlines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Ds requested LOR from two teachers back at the very beginning of the semester. His deadline is 11/1. In the common app we can see that one teacher has not yet logged in. The other teacher logged in and started it but never finished and submitted. His applications are in and the only missing part are the LOR. I'm not in a panic as there is still plenty of time. Just wondering how to proceed. Teacher #1- cc teacher ds had for a dual enrollment class. She started the LOR in early September. The other day ds sent her an email mentioning that it looks like it did not go through and could she attempt to submit again (his guidance counselor had missed the last page and hers was just listed as "started". I can see that she has logged in again since that email (which she did not respond to) and now her status is "started" with a date of 10/6. I'm not going to bug this teacher again anytime soon but I do wonder if she is just missing the final step to submit. Teacher #2- teacher from online class who had offered during the year to write LOR and responded positively when requested in late August. She has been sent the common app invite but has not started. I figure it is acceptable to send some sort of reminder as the deadline approaches? Or does that imply they can't remember/meet deadlines? If it is acceptable to send some sort of reminder when is that okay? Two weeks before deadline? One week? When deadline has passed and it is still missing? I don't think I would mind a reminder if I was a teacher but I don't think I'd like it at the very last minute if I had forgotten. Any guidance here? I realized we asked early but ds was trying to give the teachers the opportunity to do it before their semesters started if they wished. Also, he didn't have many options to ask so he was making sure they were willing to do it or else he would have been scrambling trying to find someone. I will admit I have a bit of a complex with asking people for favors so asking even once is uncomfortable for me. To keep asking is very very uncomfortable. I hate to think I am pestering people. (Of course, it is ds that is handling all of the recommenders. Someone is sure to point that out. It is not literally ME asking. Just trying to figure out how to advise ds). Thank you! The fact that teacher #2 doesn't show up as started yet might concern me a bit. I created a student CA account so that I could play around with it, assign myself as the counselor, request letters of rec to an email account I can see. This lets me go through the CA recommender requirements and see what has to be done. I really recommend this, because it lets you see where people may get hung up. I would probably ask teacher #2 if they had received the CA invite and if they had any questions. There is another CA LOR thread where I put some step by step info that you might find helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3XBlessed Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 All of my son's recommendations also show up as "Not started" on his Common App account. It shows up as "Incomplete" on my counselor account. What has us concerned is that one of his teachers said she thought she submitted it last month. She said she will check on it again this weekend. In the meantime my son emailed his other recommenders to ask them to notify him when they submit, in case there is a technical issue. I found a thread on College Confidential that there was a glitch one or two years ago where recommenders would get "submission successful", but they actually still needed to check off a signature box to complete the recommendation. Does anyone know if this might be the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3XBlessed Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 I also read that some school computers cannot get through security firewall and some recommenders have better luck submitting letters using a home computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 Just to update. Our Nov 1 deadline passed and we never were able to push the dual enrollment teacher over the finish line. She was eager to do it at first and started it early but just never finished. When ds emailed her to remind her she said she would try but she was busy. I wasn't confident after that. She didn't say she had tech trouble. Just was busy. The online teacher did it (and I really always thought she would follow through) with a few days to spare. She was very receptive to the courtesy reminder email ds sent and even encouraged him to check back with her if it didn't show up a few days before the deadline. Ds really only needed one teacher recommendation so it was fine. But, we were very grateful to have requested two even though he only really needed one. We have moved from where the cc is located or else ds would have gone in person to speak to the teacher and I suspect that would have gotten better results. So, lesson learned is that the recommenders will not always follow through and it is good to have spares. Now that we are into applications for scholarships and honors programs he needs more references but he has more people to ask. A couple schools had specifically wanted a junior year core course teacher and that was the challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Just to update. Our Nov 1 deadline passed and we never were able to push the dual enrollment teacher over the finish line. She was eager to do it at first and started it early but just never finished. When ds emailed her to remind her she said she would try but she was busy. I wasn't confident after that. She didn't say she had tech trouble. Just was busy. The online teacher did it (and I really always thought she would follow through) with a few days to spare. She was very receptive to the courtesy reminder email ds sent and even encouraged him to check back with her if it didn't show up a few days before the deadline. Ds really only needed one teacher recommendation so it was fine. But, we were very grateful to have requested two even though he only really needed one. We have moved from where the cc is located or else ds would have gone in person to speak to the teacher and I suspect that would have gotten better results. So, lesson learned is that the recommenders will not always follow through and it is good to have spares. Now that we are into applications for scholarships and honors programs he needs more references but he has more people to ask. A couple schools had specifically wanted a junior year core course teacher and that was the challenge. We definitely ran into this. With applying to service academies and ROTC, DS ended up having to ask recommenders to submit via multiple systems, with different interfaces. I tried to tally it up once and came up with nine different portals or methods used to submit the letters and that is with Common App serving for 4 colleges. It really was a burden for the teachers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Two months ago, dh agreed to write an LOR and was told he'd be sent the information. He never heard again and didn't think anything about it. Yesterday, he got an email saying that it was urgent he do this within the next three days to meet their deadline. My first thought: "HONESTLY, why aren't they are WTM boards so they would know LOR etiquette??!!!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 OT - Every time I see this, my first thought is, "What's Lord of the Rings etiquette?" LOL! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Just to update. Our Nov 1 deadline passed and we never were able to push the dual enrollment teacher over the finish line. She was eager to do it at first and started it early but just never finished. When ds emailed her to remind her she said she would try but she was busy. I wasn't confident after that. She didn't say she had tech trouble. Just was busy. That's terrible. It's okay to say no, but once you agree, it's an important commitment that you need to get done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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