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Related Discussions
SOS my thesis advisor ghosted
StellaBlue
Alum Member
Hi friends,
This is sort of a weird question, but I'm sure some of you have had similar experiences, and any advice would really help me out!
I guess I'm a nontraditional applicant in that I graduated in 2015. Since then I've been working, traveling, and making sure I actually wanted to apply to law school (I do, hooray). I was pretty successful in college, but I sort of distanced myself from my school after graduation because I was turned off by several political and social decisions being made by the administration. This is to say that I didn't do a great job of keeping in touch with my professors.
The problem is, I spent a year and a half working with one professor on my Honors History Thesis, for which I ended up winning the highest departmental awards. I viewed it as an accomplishment for both of us! He has since left my undergrad, and the school has no idea where he went. I ended up emailing one of his colleagues who asked him if it would be okay if I got in touch with him, and he said yes. I've emailed him four or five times over the last three months, to no avail. Aside from worrying about him, I'm selfishly frustrated because he was the person who knew me and my work best, and I'm afraid it will reflect poorly on me if 'honors thesis' is plastered all over my resume and then no recommendation from my advisor appears.
I have a great employer rec coming in, as well as one from a dean with whom I worked closely, and I've asked another professor who I feel pretty good about but perhaps not great. I'm aiming for a T14, and I think my GPA and softs stack up (I'm sitting in September). I would hate to miss my shot because I can't find this one guy!
Has anyone else lost their best recommender? Is this something that would be worth trying to explain, or would that be seen as making excuses/make me sound insane?
Thanks team, and seriously, good luck to everyone out there, especially those of you who've taken weird convoluted paths!!
Comments
I think you'll need another professor for sure and this is not ideal. But maybe you can supplement the two professor recommendation with a third one if this professor had a teaching assistant that would know of your accomplishment and can talk about all your awards. It is not uncommon for a big university with huge class sizes for upper classmen to be teaching the class because the professor is really busy.
Does he have Linkedin? I'm sure if you keep looking you my be able to find him. If not, it sounds like you have some other good options which sound to be very good. A dean is a good LOR to have and if you could secure another one from professor you knew well, that would be great. Try reaching out and starting a dialogue and remind them of who you are, your work, and perhaps a statement of interest in why you want to go to law school. I think you'll be ok either way!
Good luck!
@Sami Good advice! Unfortunately I went to a tiny college and we didn't have TAs in the humanities. @"Alex Divine" I actually found him on linkedin and tried messaging him there too, to no avail, which is why I tried contacting his colleague for permission, and they assured me he would be happy to hear from me. This has actually been going on for over a year...yikes!
Definitely run with the dean's recommendation if you're convinced it will be both positive and substantive. Same for the employer recommendation.
As far as finding another professor, you'll definitely have to find the "next best," as I imagine is the case for your other professor. If that's the next best, I wouldn't add anyone else. Additional, sub-par or even "pretty good" rec letters will only mar your really great ones.
Best of luck with hunting down that professor though. I didn't have anything like this, so I definitely can't imagine how stressful that's been.
Perhaps try to contact the Chairperson or Dean of the History department could write you a LOR if you explain the situation. Since you received the highest department award, offer to provide them a copy of your Thesis. From my experience, many professors within a department tend to discuss top students, so perhaps if a chairperson can revisit your Thesis, and write you a LOR.
Hey @StellaBlue, I am in a similar situation as you (graduated in 2015 and having to get in contact with professors who have moved to different universities). I was only able to get one academic letter of rec, but from what I have seen, admissions officers will take into account that it is more difficult for those of us who have been out of school for longer to get in touch with old professors.
If you are confident in your two academic recs you have so far, I wouldn't stress about it. Law school apps give you many opportunities to explain these kinds of situations and it won't be held against you if something outside of your control happens
Oh man, this guy really is ghost! I agree with the others above that the dean and perhaps another academic letter might be your best bet. It may not be as good, but I still think if you graduated in 2015 it would be better to 2 two academic letters, if possible of course. If not, you seem to have an employer as an option.
There's gotta be someone who can find this professor. We may need to hire a PI, lol.
You guys are all so sweet! @achen013 That's a great idea! Unfortunately the department head has also since departed, and I was never a student of his. I'll keep plugging along. At the end of the day, guess it's better to focus on the things I can control. On that note, off to PT! Thanks everyone again!