So, I'm applying to grad school for Fall 2015 and the crappy blizzard weather in the Midwest resulted in lost letters of recommendation. It's the only university that requires them to be sent via snail mail. -_-; The rest were all e-mail and have been since sent and received.

It's been solved because I sent out emails to both my second and third recommendation providers to send them via e-mail but still the post office sucks.

Ugh, that sucks. I'm having trouble just finding grad schools to apply to. I need to take the GRE and start getting letters of recommendation together and I'm not graduating till next May.

What are you studying? I'm looking into Public History.

Dude that sucks, I hope they get there in time!! What uni does snail mail only letters these days I mean honestly. Hopefully they'll be a little understanding, given all the bad weather.

Two of my reccomenders outright forgot to get my letter in by the doctorate deadline; only one managed to get it done and turned in by the day of. oTL

You will be so thankful for that early start! I wish I had started applying and working on things much earlier than I was told to, but alas. And good luck on your GRE!

I called the university and they had me email both of them instead so it turned out alright in the end. With the weather being as bad as it is in the Midwest and out east there they wouldn't have sent in time.

Oddly enough, the first recommender mailed his and it arrived fine but that was before any major blizzards started hitting though.

Get letters of rec early. They'll probably be the part that takes the longest after the statement since professors procrastinate. I asked for mine pretty early, and they're all done currently. My professors for the snail mail university ended up emailing theirs earlier today and those were the last ones I needed.

also, general or specific? I'm taking my GRE later in the month... But applying volunteer/ internships now to pad my application.

Library science... Since I want to work in archives/museums.

My undergrad was in history.

I'm starting this fall for teaching. Library science would be a great field to work in though!

I found recommendation letters to be the most annoying part of applying. I took a few years off school, and I felt like I had to harass one teacher to modify different letters for schools.

I hope your letters arrive in time. I am surprised by how many schools are lenient toward late letters; hopefully yours would overlook it, especially since they are dated and postmarked before the deadline.

Regarding the GRE, I found the Kaplan and Princeston guidebooks were a big help. If you can buy the verbal flashcards, those are really nice to keep in your bag to quiz yourself regularly.

Had them e-mailed directly to the graduate department e-mail.

Ah, I see now. That's good that they were understandable.

Yeah, I need to ask because three of the professors I would like to get letters from are retiring at the end of the semester. Thank you. I'm going to start studying over the summer.

Fellow History Undergrad here. Good luck with internships. They are mandatory in my program. I had an interview for one last week and got it on the spot. It's at a local art museum. I also want to work in a museum. I want to do curating and preservation.

I'll look into those. Thank you

Oh that's excellent to hear then! The waiting game is the worst with those. And hopefully your weather will lighten up a bit soon lmao~

Ooh man yeah ask them soon! Like Normandy said, they will procrastinate so stay on them about it. I asked one of mine very early in the year and kept being told to remind them in "a month or so" lmao. Hopefully with retirement coming up they'll have more time to write them at least~ (smart move on the summer studying too!)

I'm in California... XD I've seen snow 2-3 times in my entire life. It's just that since the major I'm applying to doesn't have a lot of California schools all the universities I'm applying to are pretty much all out of state.

and

I took non-degree classes and asked mine at the end of the semester which is a good 6-7 months in advance so I asked really early, and I'd advise to do so even more for teachers who retire. That said, I graduated with my undergrad in 2009 so I couldn't really ask for recommenders again since they'd be 6 years out of date. Also, some of the professors from my alma mater that I wanted to ask for recommendations died so I can't ask them anymore in the first place. I will say that if you're looking for recommenders and they're retiring, ask very early. Once it gets to the end of the year, they'll be going through stuff, like preparing for finals and preparing for their retirement so chances are it'll probably slip their mind.

There's also the fact that once they're no longer in school they don't always keep up to date with their campus e-mails either.

Ooh, I'm volunteering at an art museum as a means of getting experience for mine. XD My minor was actually in art though so an art museum fits for me though.

I tried some other museum internships and got rejected but I figured volunteering does the same thing since a lot of the local art museums have libraries/archives that they want volunteers for so I'd be getting the same experience as an internship.

I just finished my MLIS last year - always great to see a fellow library science person! Best of luck to you. The job market unfortunately isn't the best, but the more experience you can get (including internships or whatever you can manage) the better off you'll be. Tons of people go straight to library school after undergrad with no experience, so I think even volunteer work will set you apart. I work in a pseudo-archive (specialized department in a public library) and I really love all the unique resources and helping people with interesting research. If it were full-time, I'd love it even more! :) Oh well.

I will next week. I'm on spring break this week. I don't even know what to think about the GRE. I just want to get through the semester.

Volunteering is great too. It looks great on your application. I had a recommendation from one of the professors, who is friends with the head curator at the museum I got into.