Deadline for Recommendation Letters

[Isaac Freeman]

Hello everyone,

 

I would like to know if there is a different deadline for submitting letters of recommendations, and how late it is comparing to the application deadline. So far, only one of my recommenders has submitted his letter, but the other two take their time, saying their deadline is still ahead.

Last year, I applied to some program in a European institution, and this was indeed the case. My recommenders had about 2 weeks extra, after the application was submitted. Is this the case in American graduate programs as well?

For two universities I applied to (Princeton and Georgetown) the deadline was yesterday. For one (the University of North Carolina), the deadline is today. The application submission deadline that is. Do I still have a chance to get admitted to these institutions, or will they see it as an unprofessional behavior and reject my application?

 

Thank you all,

Isaac

[potsupotsu]

You should be fine as a lot of schools seem to be quite lenient about accepting late recommendation letters. When I applied to MA programs last year one of my recommenders was two weeks late, but it didn't seem to impact my application in any way.

However, I would contact the schools you are applying to just to be sure.

[psstein]

So long as the letters arrive before the committee meets, it shouldn't pose an issue.

[Isaac Freeman]

So I need to contact each school separately?

[dr. t]

You have other things to worry about. If the school thinks there's a problem, they'll contact you. Admissions committees understand that tenure does funny things to human perceptions of time.

[AP]

Schools don't have all the same requirements, meeting times, timelines. So yes, if you want to know until when faculty have time to submit, you'll to contact them individually. 

That said, if the deadlines has passed/is drawing closer, I wouldn't bother schools. Instead, I would send a reminder to your letter writers. I had a letter writer that did not write ANY of my letters. Fortunately, I had another one in line so I had options. Remember people are writing letters for you, other students, faculty, colleagues... be patient. 

And good luck!

[TMP]

Dec 1 is a big deadline for A LOT of things like graduate students' and colleagues' fellowships and job applications and those are of higher priority.  Those tend to be less forgiving of late letters....  I've been very fortunate that my letter writers get their stuff in before the deadline but I have heard of one colleague who was immediately rejected because her adviser didn't get his letter in before the deadline. So, yup.  Just a reminder to your letter writers will do.  I've been contacted by grad administrators in January about missing materials "just to complete the application."   This is exactly why your SOP and writing sample are so important-- the LORs are very important but they serve as a supplement to round out your application.  If the POI/committee is already convinced by the SOP, writing sample, and the first 2 letters, the 3rd oen is just a formality.

[fortsibut]

My recommenders have been on point thus far, but I did get an email today from one of my schools stating that they were missing my GRE scores and writing sample and told me I had a few more days to get them in before my app would be tossed.  I specifically remember uploading the writing sample but maybe I somehow uploaded a duplicate copy of one of the other documents since I was rushed and turned it in at the 11th hour or something.  The admissions rep I talked to last week said they still had my scores on file from last year so I wrote back about that and uploaded the missing writing sample.

TL;DR:  Some schools seem to be lenient about missing materials to a certain point, but I'd avoid pushing it if at all possible.  What sucks is that the LORs are the one piece really out of your control.

[phonotactless]

1 hour ago, fortsibut said:

My recommenders have been on point thus far, but I did get an email today from one of my schools stating that they were missing my GRE scores and writing sample and told me I had a few more days to get them in before my app would be tossed.  I specifically remember uploading the writing sample but maybe I somehow uploaded a duplicate copy of one of the other documents since I was rushed and turned it in at the 11th hour or something.  The admissions rep I talked to last week said they still had my scores on file from last year so I wrote back about that and uploaded the missing writing sample.

TL;DR:  Some schools seem to be lenient about missing materials to a certain point, but I'd avoid pushing it if at all possible.  What sucks is that the LORs are the one piece really out of your control.

I'm applying for a different subject but this just happened to me as well -- got an email from one of my schools saying they were missing my GRE scores and English proficiency test, even though I know ETS reported my scores directly to them and I'm not required to prove my English proficiency since I have an undergrad degree from a university in the UK...

[Isaac Freeman]

I made sure in advance that all the required material have reached all schools prior to their deadlines for the application.

At least from Georgetown, I received an answer on a different matter, and they mentioned that two of my recommenders did not yet submit their recommendations, and that they should do so before the reviewing committee meets. 

if by the end of this weeks there will still be a missing letter, I will go and see these professors personally.

[e_randolph]

Rest easy about Princeton, as well.  My POI there assured me that recommendation letters are late so often that there's a pretty substantial delay before the letters are even expected.  It definitely won't affect your chances this soon after the deadline.

[ashiepoo72]

On 12/3/2018 at 4:53 PM, TMP said:

Dec 1 is a big deadline for A LOT of things like graduate students' and colleagues' fellowships and job applications and those are of higher priority.  Those tend to be less forgiving of late letters....  I've been very fortunate that my letter writers get their stuff in before the deadline but I have heard of one colleague who was immediately rejected because her adviser didn't get his letter in before the deadline. So, yup.  Just a reminder to your letter writers will do.  I've been contacted by grad administrators in January about missing materials "just to complete the application."   This is exactly why your SOP and writing sample are so important-- the LORs are very important but they serve as a supplement to round out your application.  If the POI/committee is already convinced by the SOP, writing sample, and the first 2 letters, the 3rd oen is just a formality.

I want to second this. I've basically spent this entire quarter on grants and fellowships, and so have all my colleagues and many of my professors. This may account for why certain programs are lenient about recommendations for prospective students.

I was lucky in my application year and in grad school to have recommenders who always submit on time, but sometimes I need to send several reminders (couched in updates about my research, grant awards, or other things I'd want to email them about anyway). My advice to anyone with deadlines looming is to not be afraid to email or meet with professors to remind them. Don't harass them, obviously, but I've found in most instances where a prof who promised you a letter is pushing the deadline, they simply forgot because they're super busy. They know how important your applications are to you and won't hate you for gentle nudges.

[psstein]

5 hours ago, e_randolph said:

Rest easy about Princeton, as well.  My POI there assured me that recommendation letters are late so often that there's a pretty substantial delay before the letters are even expected.  It definitely won't affect your chances this soon after the deadline.

Princeton's committee meets notoriously late, or so I'm told.