Yay! (Also, Bah.)

[akujunkan]

Put the (almost) last of my recommendation forms in the mail today, which was a huge relief. Also, my lovely soeur delivered my transcript requests to ye olde alma mater's registrar, so those are presumably taken care of as well. I've also finished writing the supplemental statements of purpose required by two of the schools to which I'm applying, so that's thankfully off of my plate.

Best of all, I just received an email from the lady in charge of the dual masters programs at my first choice. (If accepted, I plan to attempt a triple MA with them, Ritsumeikan in Kyoto, and Korea University in Korea.) It turns out that the Japanese-language statement of purpose the catalog requires isn't due until spring semester (after I'm admitted), meaning that I will both be able to write it after having refreshed myself with bona fide language instruction and that, having enrolled in the school, I will have a better idea of "an aspect of Japan-America relations which interests me" about which to write. So, yay!



My #2 pick requires a third recommender, whom I do not have. Also, one of my recommenders has yet to submit any recommendations for me. And finally, the other recommender has. So, a question for all of you: what should I do to thank this person? I'm planning on sending a letter, of course, but is that sufficient in and of itself? I find that I have internalized the Japanese concept of "mendo," which can be translated as "being a pain in the ass" only with the onus of guilt placed on the "pain-er" for having asked, as opposed to the pain-ee, for thinking such of someone. So, bah.


That will be all.

Comments

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Yay for progress!

You really don't have to do anything special to thank your recommenders. I never expect a thank you letter, though of course it's nice to get one. Actually, what I like even better is a letter later from the student telling me where they got in and where they're going, but I don't expect that either, and it's not common for me to get something like that.

Good luck with everything! If your recommender who hasn't sent stuff in has had a reasonable amount of time to submit the rec, and the deadline is nearing or past, it isn't inappropriate to email a gentle reminder. We profs are experts at procrastination, and the squeaky wheel does sometimes get the recommendation.

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

I only personally called and thanked one prof since he acted alot like a mentor and influenced me on my choice of grad schools.

I had to poke the others to get writing, but never actually followed up on thank-you notes or telling them about my results. I did feel a tiny twinge of guilt, but many other students did the same..follow-up with profs that they had a closer relationship with. Probably a simple thank-you note would suffice.