App due before Jan 1, but school closed...

[Postbib Yeshuist]

I'm getting ready to send in my Ph.D. app (Drew University Graduate Department of Religion) and the app says "due BEFORE Jan 1." OK, no biggie. USPS Overnight, here I come. My concern is... their offices are closed all week. There's no one there to accept the mail. I'm not sure I want to take the chance of assuming they'll extend the deadline to next week since I'm already having to include unofficial copies of my transcripts (big mess up there). So, what would you all suggest? I assume USPS could at least keep a record of attempted deliveries that I could use in my defense.

Any advice is welcome.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Postbib Yeshuist

[rainy_day]

USPS will give you a tracking number if you are overnighting the package (as will UPS and FedEx). The tracking number will show when it was mailed, it's current location, when a delivery attempt was made, and we delivery was successfully made. So just hold onto that tracking number, and you should be all set!

Good luck!

[Postbib Yeshuist]

You think showing that an attempt was made before Jan 1 would suffice to prove I wasn't "late?"

[Lantern]

This is not proven, just my two cents: if they say due before Jan 1, but they are closed until after the holidays, it is quite possible that as long as it has arrived at the office when they do open up again you will be fine. I can't imagine any school would be petty enough to say, "no, your application arrived at our closed door on January 2nd, so forget it!" But like I said, I don't know any of this for a fact.

[peppermint.beatnik]

I'm applying to Drew too. I'm in the same boat. Sending UPS (or whatever) tomorrow night. I'm sure we're not the only people.

I don't know what else there is to do other than show it's post-marked before Jan. 1st.

[LateAntique]

I am not applying to Drew, but I am applying to Fordham and they have a Jan 4th deadline - only that they aren't open until the day of the 4th. I emailed them and they said that they would be accepting materials a week after the 4th. Take that for what it's worth.

[hadunc]

I'm finding that deadlines are way more flexible than they sometimes lead you to believe. I've had issues getting my materials in on time with a few schools due to some of my letters and transcripts getting lost in the mail, and all of them have been very understanding. I also have January 1st and 2nd deadlines, and since the offices won't be open those days I think it's pretty safe to assume that as long as the applications arrive on the 4th it won't be a big deal. They probably won't even have all the apps accounted for until later in the week, so if I were you I wouldn't worry.

[fancypants09]

I think the weekend/holiday deadlines would be a bigger deal if you had the option to submit your application online. Otherwise, overnighting it sounds fine!