The Faux Submitting of Recommendations

[nijerya]

I have completed my applications and I just wanted to share some insight. I applied to 8 schools across the nation. I opted out of snail mail recommendations and asked my professors to submit them online. I found that my professors had to submit the recommendations sometimes 2 to 5 times before the school received it. I would check my status online and Professor A and Professor B hadn't submitted theirs. However, they would send me emails stating that they did. It resulted in my last recommendation being actually received in the middle of January when I submitted my apps December 1st.

My recommendation about recommendations is to request the professor submit a hard copy. Better than that, ask the school if you can submit online and via mail. Then have the professors submit it online and through the mail. I'm just hoping this horrible mishap doesn't fully negatively effect my acceptance to these schools... even though the school's systems were at fault.

[whirlpool4]

Thank you for this post. I asked for my letters before I graduated and I swore that would be the last correspondence with my recommenders - once I had them, I'd send them in and that'd be that. I only had hard copies and then I found out some schools only take online versions, and I know each school has their own system and I didn't want to put my recommenders through that... then I'd actually have to contact them again.

I've been trying to see if I could work around this mess by snail-mailing them in where I could, and then scanning them and emailing them myself. I mean, they wrote the letters, so it's not like I'm forging anything; it's just that I'm sending them in and not them.

[ktel]

^ I can almost guarantee that they won't be accepted if you scan them yourself. There's a certain anonymity that is expected for these letters, and that wouldn't be certain if you've opened them, scanned them and then e-mailed them. Why are you so set on never contacting your recommenders again? It wouldn't be particularly difficult for them to upload the letter online.

[whirlpool4]

My letters are not sealed. They were just stacks of papers given to me.

[Eigen]

If they weren't sealed, I think you'll have trouble with most universities accepting them. Sealed letters are the norm- your writers would give you a stack of letters, each sealed in an envelope.

[whirlpool4]

I could just put them in envelopes and seal them. Bazinga!

[ktel]

I could just put them in envelopes and seal them. Bazinga!

The norm is that they are sealed with a signature across the seal. That's what we mean by sealed.

[Eigen]

Also keep in mind that sealing them and submitting them yourself could be considered fraud in your application. And could result in your acceptance being withdrawn later if it's discovered.

Not a huge chance they'd find out, but a pretty severe risk to take. Just get your writers to send them.

[whirlpool4]

They didn't tell me about signing the envelope. I've already graduated and moved away, so unless I mail them back to them and have them mailed out from there, or just go back to visit, I can't really get them to do that. I'll just contact the schools and ask if that's okay.

[Eigen]

You don't have to go back and visit, just e-mail your writers and ask them to send recommendations to your schools.

This is a necessary part of most applications- either sealed envelopes from the school, or online submissions from the faculty. Just like the requirement for sealed transcripts from schools.

[kaykaykay]

If your letter writers have already written you there is a huge chance the letter is in their computer- it will take them 1 minute to pull it up and send it online.

It is much less bothersome than you imagine. The online thing is also email verification- most of the time you need the institutional email address of the prof or an email address the school can find them.

[ktel]

They didn't tell me about signing the envelope. I've already graduated and moved away, so unless I mail them back to them and have them mailed out from there, or just go back to visit, I can't really get them to do that. I'll just contact the schools and ask if that's okay.

Ask the schools, but most outline pretty clearly what their requirements are. You should be able to find it on their website.

[fuzzylogician]

I'm not sure why contacting your recommenders is such a big deal or why you (or they) think it's such a hassle. If the letter is already written then submitting it online isn't all that difficult. Not to mention, it's part of a professor's job. If all three of your recommenders can't be bothered to go online and submit letters for you, I'd doubt their commitment to you as an applicant and I'd be worried, as an adcom member.