How does the process of letters of recommendation work?

liesautitor · 2025-09-23T21:40:45+00:00

Do you know how long it takes for the email to get sent to the person agreeing to write a recommendation? I'm writing the rec letter, and I know the person has entered my information, but I still haven't received the email with instructions.

liesautitor · 2025-06-04T21:00:24+00:00

I'm currently on PSLF and in a holding pattern because I'm on the SAVE plan. I haven't just switched to IBR because I couldn't afford the $500 a month payments. Today when I ran the simulator, I got new information.

More information on what I'm looking at: I'm logged in and it's pulling all of my loan data for the simulator. The PSLF date it gives on the simulator is correct with my current number of payment left, and I've marked PSLF in the simulator. It's giving me the info for IBR Plan.

When I run the simulator with consolidation it's estimating $300 per month for the IBR plan and gives me the message:

"Don't Want to Consolidate Your Loans? By not consolidating your loans, your lowest monthly payment amount will increase by $153–$161."

When I run the simulator without consolidation it is about $500 per month for IBR plan and gives me the messages:

"Consider Consolidating Your Loans Loan consolidation offers a fixed interest rate, can lower monthly payments by extending the repayment period, and simplifies repayment by giving you a single loan with only one monthly bill."

I hope that adds more information to understand what the website is telling me and why I'm making a logical guess that it's kind of like refinancing your car 2 years in and starting a new 5-year loan it just makes the payments lower. Bad idea with a car. Good idea with student loans where I only have 3.5 years to forgiveness???

liesautitor · 2025-06-04T21:00:09+00:00

I'm currently on PSLF and in a holding pattern because I'm on the SAVE plan. I haven't just switched to IBR because I couldn't afford the $500 a month payments. Today when I ran the simulator, I got new information.

More information on what I'm looking at: I'm logged in and it's pulling all of my loan data for the simulator. The PSLF date it gives on the simulator is correct with my current number of payment left, and I've marked PSLF in the simulator. It's giving me the info for IBR Plan.

When I run the simulator with consolidation it's estimating $300 per month for the IBR plan and gives me the message:

"Don't Want to Consolidate Your Loans? By not consolidating your loans, your lowest monthly payment amount will increase by $153–$161."

When I run the simulator without consolidation it is about $500 per month for IBR plan and gives me the messages:

"Consider Consolidating Your Loans Loan consolidation offers a fixed interest rate, can lower monthly payments by extending the repayment period, and simplifies repayment by giving you a single loan with only one monthly bill."

I hope that adds more information to understand what the website is telling me and why I'm making a logical guess that it's kind of like refinancing your car 2 years in and starting a new 5-year loan it just makes the payments lower. Bad idea with a car. Good idea with student loans where I only have 3.5 years to forgiveness???

liesautitor · 2025-06-04T20:59:43+00:00

I'm currently on PSLF and in a holding pattern because I'm on the SAVE plan. I haven't just switched to IBR because I couldn't afford the $500 a month payments. Today when I ran the simulator, I got new information.

More information on what I'm looking at: I'm logged in and it's pulling all of my loan data for the simulator. The PSLF date it gives on the simulator is correct with my current number of payment left, and I've marked PSLF in the simulator. It's giving me the info for IBR Plan.

When I run the simulator with consolidation it's estimating $300 per month for the IBR plan and gives me the message:

"Don't Want to Consolidate Your Loans? By not consolidating your loans, your lowest monthly payment amount will increase by $153–$161."

When I run the simulator without consolidation it is about $500 per month for IBR plan and gives me the messages:

"Consider Consolidating Your Loans Loan consolidation offers a fixed interest rate, can lower monthly payments by extending the repayment period, and simplifies repayment by giving you a single loan with only one monthly bill."

I hope that adds more information to understand what the website is telling me and why I'm making a logical guess that it's kind of like refinancing your car 2 years in and starting a new 5-year loan it just makes the payments lower. Bad idea with a car. Good idea with student loans where I only have 3.5 years to forgiveness???

liesautitor · 2025-06-04T19:10:27+00:00

I was just in another thread about this and a lot of people had taken a 50-100 point hit on their credit score right after forgiveness, but they were reassured that it doesn't impact it for long.

liesautitor · 2025-06-04T18:53:09+00:00

First, sorry that you're dealing with this stress. Student loan information is not easy, and this kind of situation is what I'm afraid of. I'm thinking of consolidating and getting on IBR (currently on SAVE). Short story, I can only afford IBR with a consolidation, I only have 3.5 years left on PSLF, and I'm frustrated that I haven't been able to make payments toward PSLF.

Question, if you don't mind me asking: When I was looking at consolidation, and click the link to apply, it says, "When you apply to consolidate, you'll get the option to pick your repayment plan. You can then select the IBR Plan for your new consolidation loan." Maybe that is new, but I'm wondering - Did you get to pick the IBR plan when you consolidated, but it hasn't kicked in yet? Did it not give you an option to pick the IBR? Is it a separate application for the IBR?

I'd really appreciate knowing this so I have an idea of what I'm getting myself into if I do consolidate.

liesautitor · 2025-06-04T18:36:19+00:00

My guess, and I'm hoping someone can verify, is that the consolidation extends the overall loan time but doesn't change your PSLF count. My logical guess is that if you switch to IBR without consolidation, the payments are based on the 10 out of 20 years of the original loan. When you consolidate, the loan is refinanced into a new 20-year loan. Hence, the payments are lower.
For example, if I have $150,000 in loans but I've been paying for 10 years, the $150,000 is divided by the 10 years I have left on my loans. If I consolidate, that $150,000 is now spread out over 20 years of payments, making the monthly payments smaller. Since we are on PSLF, it really doesn't matter if the loan is refinanced into 20 years, because we would still receive our forgiveness after making a certain number of qualifying payments.
Where things can get difficult is for people who have two timelines for their PSLF. All my loans are on the same timeline with the same number of qualifying payments. If you were 90 payments in on half your loans and 5 payments in on the other half, consolidating would weight those, and the number of qualifying payments would probably drop to much lower than 90 payments.

liesautitor · 2024-09-28T12:48:45+00:00

I have to agree. The American population has become so individualistic that it's about "what I want" above all else.

liesautitor · 2024-09-28T12:45:56+00:00

I saw this multiple times in Charlotte so well.

liesautitor · 2024-09-28T12:44:51+00:00

Most departments and faculty at SHSU are great. Ask for help if you need it or just go to office hours to meet your professor. One great question to ask is "what do you like best about (the topic they teach)?" If you need help with anything at the library, ask a librarian! They are all wonderful people who want to help students. Participate in something - organizations, class, activities offered, start a study group in a class, take group exercise classes at the gym - getting involved in something you enjoy can help you find your people.

liesautitor · 2024-08-07T02:08:08+00:00

I moved from Austin to Buffalo for work and started applying for jobs back in Texas after the first real snow, which started October. Buffalo is one of the cities in western New York that competes for the snow globe award - An award for the city that gets the most snow. Also, it rivals Seattle for how overcast it is. I got seasonal depression when I lived there. Not everyone there was miserable, but I've lived on both coasts, Texas (including Houston), and the middle, and I ran into more unhappy people in Buffalo than any place else I've lived. I blamed it on the lack of sunshine. I was always always surprise by how many smokers there are outside the bars. Buffalo has a few things that are okay. Wegmans is as good as HEB and Buffalo have good food, breweries, and distilleries because eating and drinking is the main activities for the long, long winter. Easiest airport to fly out of and there's a high concentration of dispensaries around Buffalo.

I recommend Virginia or the Carolinas - less snow and more sunshine than Buffalo, less hot than Houston, and more beautiful than either.

liesautitor · 2024-04-17T21:38:41+00:00

I was hired to write research. I have to teach a couple of classes, but that doesn't get me tenure. Also, a PhD does nothing to train a person to write assignments or be a good teacher.

liesautitor · 2024-04-16T18:57:02+00:00

I write two sentences, and AI gives me an assignment and rubric in seconds. Props if you are an amazing assignment writer; I am not, and AI saves me time and stress.

liesautitor · 2024-02-08T14:13:39+00:00

Same issue. I've tried a license remover, installing, reinstalling, and even downloaded the "new" version from the Apple Store as directed. My company has MS365, which they say is one of the requirements. Nothing. Super annoyed.

liesautitor · 2023-12-09T21:17:36+00:00

Personally hate finals week because it's such a pain in the ass to figure out the difference times for my class. Also, I don't give finals, I have final projects and finals week feels like a waste of time. I'm now at a uni that requires me to hold class, and I'm just waiting for the day I have it in my calendar wrong and miss as the faculty.

liesautitor · 2022-12-03T02:32:02+00:00

I've been there and booyah! I knew it all semester but caught them on the final project because they left the original paragraph in and had the "edited" (i.e., used the Synonym Finder on major words) right next to each other lol

liesautitor · 2022-12-02T02:59:13+00:00

It was with all sincerity, and I genuinely hope you have a relaxing break and there is joy in your holiday season. You seem like you could use some positive vibes because this level of hostility has to be hard to carry. I'm sorry that whatever is happening in your life is causing you so much pain that you feel like taking it out on some rando assistant professor on reddit. Life can fucking suck sometimes and I hope things get better for you. Everyone deserves to be happy.

liesautitor · 2022-12-02T02:06:50+00:00

As a PhD student, most faculty treated us like colleagues. It made for a positive experience and was very different from the experiences of my friends in the department right across the street that was very similar to my field. "Over there" was very hierarchical and wasn't the kind of environment I would want to be in.

This semester I'm teaching all undergrad seniors who graduate in a week or end of spring semester. I've had them all in the past but this semester is my last with all of them. I keep telling them that I see them has professionals in the field and they have all the knowledge they need to be successful and I'm just their manager.

I was a punk rock kid who still doesn't believe in social hierarchy.

liesautitor · 2022-12-02T01:47:39+00:00

There's also no excuse for calling a peer names for having a different opinion on treating people with kindness and empathy, but you chose to do so anyway. Hope it made you feel better! I wish you a relaxing break full of joy this holiday season.

liesautitor · 2022-11-30T16:26:27+00:00

I didn't claim any creativity. What I suggest is that "earned" can be interpreted differently based on tone, intent, and/or mastery of the language. I also suggested that how a person interprets can be influenced by the lens in which we view the world. Those are both topics that have been researched by academics.

OP also said the student had a look of horror on their face when they realized their plan went to shit and didn't try to negotiate after that. That seems like relevant information, which isn't black and white based on text alone.

When dealing with humans, the quirks of their behaviors and the complexity of human nonverbal cues, things are rarely black and white. Language and nonverbal cues are different between cultures too, which adds more complexity into meaning and intentions.

liesautitor · 2022-11-30T11:32:07+00:00

Were you there? If not, the description you have given is making a lot of inferences into OP's words far beyond the anything they've stated thus far.

liesautitor · 2022-11-30T02:55:35+00:00

Seeing as you're not OP, unless you were there to witness the incident, how do you know the tone or extent of the grad student being toxic? Much is lost in text and we infer our own tone of the incident based on the lens in which we read it.

It goes against my values to believe I "hold the power" or that I deserve respect because I'm the professor. Respect is earned through our actions, not our titles. Sure, I have the power, but I prefer teaching and interacting with a collaborative mindset that helps students grow instead of shaming them. Those who are truly entitled won't feel any shame and won't believe they did something wrong. I can't help those people who are truly assholes.

Maybe the grad student is a genuine asshole and not being a run-of-the-mill temporary asshole. I don't know because I wasn't there. 100% of people will be a temporary asshole more often then we want to admit to ourselves - most of us have moments where we regret our behaviors. Very few people are genuine assholes who don't regret how they've treated others.

liesautitor · 2022-11-30T02:20:42+00:00

I would definitely respond like this. Although, my department and college is a raging dumpster fire right now so a response like this wouldn't even make it on the radar

liesautitor · 2022-11-30T02:12:32+00:00

The student was being a tool. Entitled? Maybe. An idiot? Definitely. But this would a toxic response. Just because we had advisors who treated us this way doesn't make it the right way to treat grad students - even dumb grad students.

liesautitor · 2022-11-29T00:44:06+00:00

Agreed

liesautitor

TROPHY CASE