application closed before the deadline!!!

[girlengineer]

I am an applicant for the penn cis grad program and the deadline is tonight at 11.59pm. I have all my recommendations, GRE scores everything submitted and today when I went to finally submit my application it won't let me submit it!!! It looks like they have closed the app hours before the deadline. Today is Saturday and I can't reach anybody and I even stopped UPenn to contact someone to no avail.

 

I emailed the admissions coordinator with a copy of my application and asked him to help me on Monday. What do you guys think? Will they still accept me on Monday?

[Bonfire09]

Yes I am sure you will be fine since most schools do give grace days. Plus it takes time to process your application as well so im sure they should accept it. 

[Kleene]

Have you taken possible time differences into account?

Edited March 16, 2014 by Kleene

[juilletmercredi]

Yes I am sure you will be fine since most schools do give grace days. Plus it takes time to process your application as well so im sure they should accept it.

 

Er, I'm not sure how true this is.  Most departments are relatively understanding about things like GRE scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation - things outside of your control.  But as far as the actual materials that are in your control?  I actually don't think most departments have "grace days" for that.

 

My first thought was also the time difference - usually programs close their applications at 11:59 their time.  So if this was an East Coast school and you're on the West Coast, it could've closed at 9 pm PDT rather than midnight like you expected (because that's midnight EST).

 

If there's no time difference and it just closed early, don't panic, it could've been an error.  You did exactly right - just email your materials, calmly explain what happened, and hope for the best.

 

And to anyone else reading this, cautionary tale: DO NOT, if you can at all help it, wait until the very last minute to submit your materials.  Particularly with electronic systems snafus happen all the time, and you don't want the app to be down for scheduled maintenance in the last few hours before the deadline.  Also often application servers are overloaded because thousands of applicants are also submitting at the last minute. So beat the rush and aim for at least 3 days before, if not earlier.