Recommender not responding to emails...apps due in 8-9 days

Question

So I contacted my recommenders back in mid October for letters of rec that have to be submitted by Jan. 4/5th. Both agreed, we spent time talking about why mba, goals, resume, leadership...and all that kind of stuff. I followed up in November, both were still on board.

Recommender #1: During the late November follow up he was noticeably agitated at having to write 5 letters of rec (although he had already submitted 2, so really only 3 left) because he had a lot of additional work responsibilities to take care of (more layoffs). However he promised to submit them by December 31st and that he wouldn't write any more for me. Fine. The problem is that he hasn't even logged in to the application since I sent him the notification. I'm thinking about contacting him again tomorrow, but I don't want to agitate him further.

Recommender #2: He told me to follow up with him on Dec. 9 via email. I did....no response. I sent him another email on the 14th, no response. Then another email on the 19th...no response. Then another email on the 25th, plus a facebook message and a voicemail on his office line and his secretary's office line in the hopes they might check that. Still haven't heard anything. This is someone that was *very* enthusiastic about me applying to b-school, he is like a mentor to me, and he is normally very good about replying to emails. I'm starting to get very worried though.

Both of these people are my ideal letter writers. They are my superiors, know my work well, they know my story, I invested time and effort into them. And most importantly, they are from the organizations that had the biggest impact on my career/professional life. The worst part is that I feel like anyone but these two people would write comparably lackluster recs. I just dont know what to do....ugh.

I'm open for suggestions, but I think this was probably more of a venting session than anything else. I think it's probably too late to find anyone else, and I think my only option is to just keep pestering these people. God I hate letters of rec....

redjam · Answer

I feel what you're going through. My first choice recommender wasn't very responsive either. She had been a major factor in my success through my career and been really enthusiastic for me to get my MBA but when it came to recommendations, she blew off my meetings on multiple occasions. I gave it 3 attempts and moved on to someone else. That was in late October though.

With a week to go, you're definitely in a tough position. If I were you, I would at least talk to a back-up recommender right away and get that going. Even if your back-up can do 1 recommendation, it will de-risk your application and perhaps your chosen recommenders will be glad to do 1 less.

staind · Answer

This is definitely a tough spot to be in.. we really are at the mercy of the recommender. If you feel you have a good enough relationship with the people giving you recommendations you could suggest to them that they can send you the ones theyve written so far and you can take them and tailor the answers to fit the questions for the remaining applications - that would save them considerable time. Also, many schools do allow grace periods for recos so don't fret just yet. In their last online chat, Booth ad com said they would accept recommendations up to two weeks after the deadline. I applied in R1 and for one of my schools one recommender submitted 24 hours before the deadline and the other one less than 6 hours before the deadline! Many people tend to operate on a permanent priority basis where they do things only when its absolutely on the line and your recommenders may be similar and will suddenly get serious about it towards the last couple of days.

tortoiserun · Answer

I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I feel your pain, as I'm going through the same thing. I have some potential backups, but they're much weaker than the two I'm trying to work with. I really wish schools would just accept one universal letter.

kt2011 · Answer

I was on a similar boat during R1. One of my recommenders basically disappeared for a month and did not reply to emails. But he did end up submitting recos for both schools right on time (hours to spare). It was like he would appear at just the right time, work on my recos and submit them. He later sent me an IM apologizing saying that he had been very busy.
It was a harrowing experience so I know exactly what you are feeling. If he/she has committed to submitting your applications you should be able to count on them. I was trying my best to be patient and avoided reminding him every week, and thats what I would suggest to you. But yeah, I did have a back up recommender ready just in case my original choice backed out or never emerged out of hibernation.

tigerbait · Answer

I also hadn't received a response from one of my recommenders during the final week so I deleted her and used one of her subordinates. She wrote to me the day that the application was due, saying that she was unable to access the app to complete my recommendation. By that time, I already had the recommendations I needed. She would've written a far better receommendation than the alternate but my applications were submitted before the deadline, which was the priority for me.

My suggestion is to wait if you want to risk it, with the understanding that one or both individuals may not come through, or simply contact someone else, whom you may not be that exited about but know will come through, and be satisfied with that.

My suggestion is to wait if you want to risk it, with the understanding that one or both individuals may not come through, or simply contact someone else, whom you may not be that exited about but know will come through, and be satisfied with that.

VictoryMBA · Answer

Good to know I'm not the only one who has experienced this. Even though I did everything I thought I was supposed to do, I couldn't help feeling like I did something wrong ya know? Arrg.

Update: Recommender #2 popped up out of nowhere and sent me an email today saying not to worry and that he'll submit on time

My nerves are frayed before I've even clicked submit...

kt2011 · Answer

Thats Great! Glad to hear.... :-D

shr30 · Answer

I have had my horror story of a recommender - a client offered to do my recs in 2008 - then did not do them for a long while and finally, 3 weeks AFTER the deadline, calls and says sorry.... tough luck seeing that one through.

I have had luck in having new year/seasons greeting notes sent in as a nice segway to "btw my recs"

I have had luck in having new year/seasons greeting notes sent in as a nice segway to "btw my recs"

Recommender not responding to emails...apps due in 8-9 days

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