Recommendation Not Sent in Time

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Hi guys,

I'm freaking out because my last recommender, the dean of my college (who was also my academic advisor), probably will not submit my letters tonight which is the deadline for the University of North Carolina and Stanford. Luckily, for Chicago I have three recommenders already, but I suppose it will look bad if the fourth I put down on the app did not send the recommendation.

I reminder her three times total and each time (including yesterday) she told me she'd do it (asked her back in late September), but I also understand she's very busy (running one of the best honors colleges in the state!) and has had family issues lately. I'm thankful she even accepted to recommend me, really. I'm worried however that those universities won't be as understanding of the circumstances. The websites specifically say all materials must be received by that date to have financial aid consideration.

I am planning to send e-mails tomorrow and hope for the best. For anyone who may read this in the future, keep in mind some people are just very busy in general and may be more difficult for them to send recommendations in a timely manner.

I was wondering if in anybody's experience submitting a recommendation a few days after the deadline (perhaps one day, not sure if she'll just submit tomorrow) will affect me, or am I worrying over nothing?

Thanks

[Warelin]

Universities know that you can't control when your writers submit their part of your application. As a result, most of them tend to be quite understanding if your professor is late in submitting their letter.  Universities have told me "as long as the letter isn't extremely late, it won't count against you". I'm not sure what they consider extremely late, but my guess is about a week.

[fuzzylogician]

^Seconding this. Although we can't make you any promises, there is often some leeway for letter writers to submit after the official deadline (while everything the student submits absolutely has to be there on time!). Often LOR writers know from their own experience that the only thing that really matters is that letters arrive before the adcom meets to discuss files, and that takes some time after the official deadline, while some administrative processes are taking place. I'm not going to tell you not to worry, but really, don't worry. If your LOR writer is aware of the request and says she's on top of it, she knows what she's doing, even if it's causing you some distress. 

[lordtiandao]

Most universities won't mind letters coming in after the deadline since they'll most likely not start reviewing your applications until January (after winter break). USC, for instance, has told me that recommenders have until the end of the month to submit letters. One of my recommenders have also submitted late letters to Berkeley and Princeton and both were accepted by the system.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Thanks everybody. She managed to send one of the recommendations just an hour before 1 am last night (and for that I feel guilty, no one should be working at that time!), and will soon send the other 2. I'm glad to hear most graduate schools aren't that strict in that regard.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

She sent the remaining letters today! So relieved and thankful!

[Adelaide9216]

I totally understand you! I was applying for a grant of one of my LOR sent their letter a few hours before the deadline, I was so anxious. Glad it all turned out well in the end. I hate when people are last minute too!

[ClassicsCandidate]

I'm glad this worked out! My application is due in February and I asked my professors in summer and then this semester (once I had this professor for the second time in my current grad program) for Letters of Rec, but the admissions portion of the site indicates that you can submit the final application even if all the Letters of Recommendation aren't sent through yet. I know for sure one has gone through, but can't tell if the others sent yet. So it's good to hear a lot of schools are lenient on that and it wasn't just where I was applying.