Nightmare at Columbia

[Catria]

Although two of the three recommenders have written recs at Columbia just fine, the third recommender claims not to have received the submission link at Columbia, even after reminding the recommender through the application portal three times in two days.

 

Yet, I used the same institutional email address for every application so I know that it doesn't stem from an incorrect email adress, since the other 10 apps showed that recommender could submit his rec just fine using that email address. I gave my recommender my date of birth and my application number so that he could contact tech support at Columbia regarding the rec.

 

Anyone else for whom such a situation happened?

[bsharpe269]

I would just call the department and discuss the issue with them. This stuff is fairly common.

[12345678900987654321]

I would just call the department and discuss the issue with them. This stuff is fairly common.

 

THIS I get this kind of stuff regularly and it is no big deal. 

 

Also, the phrase absent-minded professor exists for a reason...

[museum_geek]

I was in the exact same situation with Columbia about 10 days ago.  Two of my three letter writers got the email prompt no problem, but the third never received an email.  I emailed the grad admissions office and they tried sending the email "from a personal email address" in their words, but to no avail.  The recommender who had this problem is my current boss, so she showed me her email account to verify that she never received anything.  I ended up having my letter writer mail them a hard copy of the letter, which was received and marked as such on my application page the day after arriving.  

 

At this point I would recommend that your letter writer send in a hard copy of the letter via the post office.  Make sure to include the cover sheet that goes with the letter and have your letter writer sign the back of the letter over the seal.  Snail mail to the rescue!

 

edit: Here is the address my letter writer used:

 

Columbia University

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences | Office of Admissions

107 Low Memorial Library

535 West 116th Street

New York, NY 10027

Edited December 13, 2014 by museum_geek

[fuzzylogician]

As the others have said, email admissions with this. It's a very common problem and I'm sure they know how to deal with it. Ask if it would be possible for your recommender to email their letter to someone (probably the secretary who you'll be talking to) and for them to then upload the letter to your application.