PhDPolEcon Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 I am applying to over fifteen schools. Everyone says "apply broadly"; so that is what I am doing. One of my letter writers just told me he can only write so many letters. I know I am not the first to apply to over fifteen schools. How have others handled the process? How do I handle this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econhead Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 First and foremost, talk to your Letter writer about the process. The process has changed in just the past 3 years, where online recomendations were encouraged, but not manadotory. When physical letters were allowed, it was slightly more labor intensive to complete additional forms, fill them all out, and mail them. Now, it takes approximately 5 minutes per appliction, assuming no additional form is required. Even with an additional form, perhaps only 10 more minutes at most. If they are writing one letter for all programs, it should take about 90 minutes to submit, plus the time to write one letter. When this is not true: IF your letter writer is tailoring their letter for each school, there is an inherent amount of additional time that it takes to WRITE the letter, per program. This can be very labor intensive. If your professor is doing this, the quality of their letters is going to be better, but it is costing them a lot of time. Be sure to say thank you, buy them lunch, get them a Christmas present, name your first born after them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhDPolEcon Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 Thanks Econhead for a very useful reply. I thought I had explained the process to him, but maybe I assumed too much knowledge of the process on his part. I did tell him to just write one letter and even offered him a mail merge template to assist. He is in the UK and I think they do not have a good grasp of the USA admission process... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhDPlease Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Some universities have a program where you can open a recommendations file and the professor can upload the letter there, and then a university admin will send it out to the various places. Not all universities have that and it wouldn't include any school-specific form, so maybe it's not a valid option to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.