One of the referees will send Letter of Recommendation after the deadline. Does it matter?

[Fahad.Baloch]

So one of my referees is out of the country at the moment and told me he would not be able to write me the LOR until he gets back on December 2nd. The application deadline is 30th November. It would have been nice of him had he told me he'll be out of the country as he had agreed to write a LOR and so I entered his email address while applying. Although the department hasn't specifically mentioned that LORs be submitted by the deadline but they did mention for all documents to be sent by then. So do I have anything to worry about? I can only ask him to send his LOR when he gets back.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Fahad.Baloch

[talkcherty2me]

It most definitely depends on the school. Most schools don't actually care, but there were a couple I applied to that would not look at your application if all recs weren't received on time.

[Fahad.Baloch]

That is exactly what I am worried about. I have sent them an email asking if its alright. I just hope sending the LOR after a week later max doesn't harm me. I could have easily sent a LOR from a different professor but I already mentioned the one who is out of country. If they ask me to replace that referee then there is no problem.

[svent]

Can you get a different professor to write your 3rd LOR and if the guy who's out of the country manages to do it just have a 4th LOR for that one school?

[Fahad.Baloch]

Hi Svent,

I can do that. I'm not sure how the university will see that because I entered 2 referees' email address. So now when they get a reference from a 3rd referee who I did not enlist I don't know how they'll see it. You do have a good point and I'll do that if the university allow me a different referee. I have asked them about this and am waiting for a response.

[svent]

I believe many schools will let you enter up to 4. So if you enter a 4th in your application and only 3 submit, not a big deal.

[Fahad.Baloch]

Great. Thanks! That helps a lot. :)