Committee letter in late August/early September

[Pusheen]

Hello,

As you can see by the title, my letters aren't going out until a month and a half from now. There really isn't anything I can do about it but hope that the projected submission time will actually happen.

Will this hurt my chances significantly? I was verified on 7/1 and am working on secondaries now. LizzyM is 72-73

Normally this wouldn't bother me too much, since I know that reviews often don't happen until September, but many of the UC schools are giving me 30 day deadlines to have the letters in that I simply cannot meet. Anyone have any experience dealing with this?

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[efle]

Will this hurt my chances significantly?

Well, good news is you aren't alone! People are often held back from completion by their committee letters, I think it was gyngyn that once said Brown often sends them in September.

Bad news is, he did comment that he felt bad for Brown applicants because of it...

Neutral news is, this is outside your control, so there is nothing to be gained by worrying about it.

The UC deadlines do seem odd, that must punish a lot of applicants who have many premeds at their school/slow packet writing process.

 

[Pusheen]

Well, good news is you aren't alone! People are often held back from completion by their committee letters, I think it was gyngyn that once said Brown often sends them in September.

Bad news is, he did comment that he felt bad for Brown applicants because of it...

Neutral news is, this is outside your control, so there is nothing to be gained by worrying about it.

The UC deadlines do seem odd, that must punish a lot of applicants who have many premeds at their school/slow packet writing process.

The UC's have been by far the strictest/most particular schools in the app process so far. A lot of applicants I guess. All their emails are full of stern warnings to not harass them and to wait patiently.

 

[Pusheen]

A few thoughts
1) The AMCAS process guidelines assume committee letters will not be received until September
2) Most schools that have stated timelines do so mostly for keeping the applications flowing thru processing; rarely are they used for some sort of automatic rejection. Some schools will remove you from "active" queue if you past the deadline but you will be returned to queue when the LOR is received.

That's good to hear. My secondaries will all be in soon so hopefully they can see that I'm doing the everything in my power to stick to the timeline.

 

[anonymoose1640]

My committee letter wasn't submitted until the end of August last cycle, and though it made things stressful (people were getting IIs well before I was even "complete" anywhere, I didn't get my first acceptance until December, etc. etc.) I don't think it truly negatively impacted my cycle in any way. I was also under the impression that many schools might recognize that the submission of a committee letter is out of your hands and will not look down on your application for being "late."

Try not to panic 🙂 the application cycle is long and many factors are outside your control. Put your best foot forward and hope for the best. PM me if you have any questions. Good luck! 🙂

 

[Pusheen]

My committee letter wasn't submitted until the end of August last cycle, and though it made things stressful (people were getting IIs well before I was even "complete" anywhere, I didn't get my first acceptance until December, etc. etc.) I don't think it truly negatively impacted my cycle in any way. I was also under the impression that many schools might recognize that the submission of a committee letter is out of your hands and will not look down on your application for being "late."

Try not to panic 🙂 the application cycle is long and many factors are outside your control. Put your best foot forward and hope for the best. PM me if you have any questions. Good luck! 🙂

Thanks! Just read about your app cycle in the other thread, looks like you did great. How long was the delay between your committee letter being submitted by your undergrad and med schools marking you as complete and advancing you through the process?

 

[anonymoose1640]

Thanks! Just read about your app cycle in the other thread, looks like you did great. How long was the delay between your committee letter being submitted by your undergrad and med schools marking you as complete and advancing you through the process?

For most schools it was instantaneous. AMCAS marked my letters as received on 8/26 at like 2:30 am and I got emails from schools within 15 minutes. Some schools took a day or two to send me the "complete" email and others don't send a complete email at all, you just have to check the portal to make sure all the check marks are there. I even got my first II 2 days after being marked complete, so when they say you're "under review" they definitely mean it!

Good luck 🙂

 

[coffeeandcodeine]

Do you know which of the UCs require letters to be in within 30 days? I believe Davis is one of them, but the others seem not to explicitly state this.

The UC's have been by far the strictest/most particular schools in the app process so far. A lot of applicants I guess. All their emails are full of stern warnings to not harass them and to wait patiently.

 

[Pusheen]

Do you know which of the UCs require letters to be in within 30 days? I believe Davis is one of them, but the others seem not to explicitly state this.

I don't think Davis does, their app gave a deadline for just the secondary. But I may have misunderstood, I should call and ask.

UCI gave 30 days, UCLA gave me a date at the end of August, about 40 days away. Both schools seemed ok with getting the letters in a few weeks late, but the people on the phone seemed annoyed

 

[coffeeandcodeine]

Thanks so much! My experience with calling the UC schools has also been that the people on the phone seem annoyed, so I'm trying to avoid another call. They're probably inundated with confused applicants 😛

I don't think Davis does, their app gave a deadline for just the secondary. But I may have misunderstood, I should call and ask.

UCI gave 30 days, UCLA gave me a date at the end of August, about 40 days away. Both schools seemed ok with getting the letters in a few weeks late, but the people on the phone seemed annoyed