How should I ask for my letter of reference?

How should I ask a professor for a reference letter, when the professor forgot to submit it?

• I asked the professor to submit the letter of recommendation, but it is still not submitted. The deadline is tonight! What should I do? I don't want to seem impolite, as it is Sunday ...

• Answer:

  I think I'm late in answering this (it's not Monday), but hopefully you reached out and got what you needed (and hopefully the professor was also on the same page about writing the recommendation). A couple other things though. Even if the letter wasn't submitted on time, I would still encourage the professor to submit it. Deadlines are partly to make sure you can manage a lot of moving pieces, but admissions committees also know that professors can be disorganized, and that they are not under your control. Some places may be stricter than others in enforcing the deadline, but many will cut you some slack if the reference is a little late in submitting the letter. Also, if you don't want to offend or have a confrontation, you can always ask the question in a slightly more passive way, deflecting blame away from the person who has not followed through. This allows them to save face, and puts them in a position to help you instead of explaining what happened or admitting guilt. For example, "I know you said you would submit this, but it's not showing up as submitted yet. I'm wondering if the system is glitchy, and if you could resubmit the letter." This allows them to immediately get to what you need ("Of course - I'll submit it right away!"), without them needing to acknowledge whether or not they made a mistake. Good luck!