PANIC! Deadline Passed, Mailed Official Transcripts not Recieved!

[SocGirl2013]

So I have been calling the school endlessly cause according to my online status check they never recieved my official transcripts (which are required). Deadline was Dec 1 and I mailed the stuff a week prior (I am in NY, the school's in NJ). Now I am having lots of trouble getting in touch with someone there and panicking. Assuming they really didn't recieve my transcript, am I doomed?

[deleonj]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but perhaps the online system takes a day or two to process the submission of materials?  Northwestern's status check website gave a similar message (it said my application was "incomplete" even though everything was submitted on time).

[fuzzylogician]

Some schools take time to update the system and some actually never do. I'd try contacting someone again, maybe on the phone instead of in an email. Don't forget that we just had a long weekend so there may be some lag in response to email, or they may just not be very good at that. If you have a scanned version of your transcripts, it may be a good idea to try and email them to someone in your prospective department so they have something to look at while they figure things out with your official transcripts. I'm not sure if you're talking to the grad school or the department but if you're talking to the grad school, also email the admin person at the department about this. You are not doomed, but you should stay on top of this situation.

[SocGirl2013]

I just heard back from the department finally and they said they just haven't had a chance to update it online, but it was good idea to check in. Thanks for the replies guys!

[nugget]

Glad it worked out. I sent all my documents by FedEx. It's more expensive that way but I thought it was worth the money for something so important.

[SocGirl2013]

I am really poor and as an int'll student, not eligible for app fee expemtion so the cost of applying to 8 schools (plus GRE test + sending scores) has been daunting. Which is why I thought - since in most cases only thing I needed to physically mail in was official transcripts - I should just get a 50 cent stamp and go old school. But this DEFINITELY freaked me out because there was no way for me to have tracked it had things not worked out.
So for future applicants I definitely suggest FedEx if they can afford it!

[Henry Hudson]

I have had transcripts requests die on the vine (the school never sent it out) or vanish in the mail, but not from a school that granted a degree, just a school where I did a one-year exchange. In those cases, a missing or late transcript does not always affect the total app. I don't recommend skipping such a school in transcript requests, but my grades from my main schools were of such a caliber that my side schools were apparently not that big a deal.