How long does mail take nowadays

[bacillus1]

I know, possibly a dumb thread, but I'm really stressed right now because programs are telling me they have not received my LORs, while all my recommenders say they mailed them out Wednesday. So, if someone puts their letter in the mail on Wednesday night, and it goes out Thursday, how long do you think it should take to get to the program if it's a 10-12 hour drive away? Do you think if they are taking this long they got lost in the mail? To add to this stress, one of my recommenders went away on vacation for the week.

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[ADN1226]

From my experience 2-3 days. I'm told that with hospital mail it could go to their mail room before it gets separated to the different areas in the hospital. Some places will go and pick up the bulk mail from the post office directly and they don't do pick ups on saturday or sunday.... not sure how true it is but thats what this postal worker told me.

 

[bacillus1]

Thanks for your reply. So hopefully it'll get there tomorrow...

In the meantime, my mom strongly advised me to forward to the program the email that my recommender wrote to me that confirms that she sent everything out, to show that this is not my fault. Is this professionally appropriate? The email also lists two of the other programs I applied to.

 

[ADN1226]

Speaking personally, I wouldn't do that, I feel like its not professional to be like "look, this is proof its not my fault" because it is our responsibility to make sure everything is sent in a timely manner (taking delivery time into account).

When is their deadline? Can you wait til tomorrow to see if the letter arrived? Was this just one program or multiple? If you're cutting it really close I would email or call the directors to see what would happen if the letter was lost, its really up to them.

 

[bacillus1]

Speaking personally, I wouldn't do that, I feel like its not professional to be like "look, this is proof its not my fault" because it is our responsibility to make sure everything is sent in a timely manner (taking delivery time into account).

When is their deadline? Can you wait til tomorrow to see if the letter arrived? Was this just one program or multiple? If you're cutting it really close I would email or call the directors to see what would happen if the letter was lost, its really up to them.

Their deadline was "postmarked by January 5th". They told me that they're OK with the letters getting there by January 12. I'm getting mixed responses on whether I should forward the email (between here and people I know). I'm hesitant to do it, just because some other programs I applied to are on there and they're not really the same "type" of residency as this one. If I get desperate and it's Wednesday or Thursday and they haven't received it, I might do it, especially if more programs tell me they haven't received anything.

 

[confettiflyer]

if it gets hairy have your LOR writers intercede on your behalf, something like "i was alerted by john doe that my letter did not arrive, i've attached it via email for your consideration and will be re-mailing it via US mail tomorrow morning, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions."

no experience in this, but this is probably the best way to handle this (colleague to colleague).

 

[KARM12]

if it gets hairy have your LOR writers intercede on your behalf, something like "i was alerted by john doe that my letter did not arrive, i've attached it via email for your consideration and will be re-mailing it via US mail tomorrow morning, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions."

no experience in this, but this is probably the best way to handle this (colleague to colleague).

Good advice.

This is a better route because even if you fwd the e-mail saying they sent it (this method seems unprofessional?)...the program still doesn't have the LOR in hand. This way, at least they have something written and can evaluate your application.

 

[bacillus1]

Good advice.

This is a better route because even if you fwd the e-mail saying they sent it (this method seems unprofessional?)...the program still doesn't have the LOR in hand. This way, at least they have something written and can evaluate your application.

I have decided not to go with my mom's suggestion, but I do not have the reference to forward, and the professor is away from her office this week. I think I'll just state in an email to the program that I have received confirmation that the letter was sent out. Hopefully 3 more business days is enough time for the letters to get there. My third recommender has told me that he will e-mail the letter. I am just puzzled by how slow mail is nowadays. Used to take 1-2 days for things to get delivered. Programs should just transition to e-mailed LORs.

 

[KARM12]

Hospital mail is slow....it takes a few days for things to get through the mailroom and then delivered and then opened and then filed and then read.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

Hospital mail is slow....it takes a few days for things to get through the mailroom and then delivered and then opened and then filed and then read.

Yep, It takes a long time for things to get to the designated dept through snail mail or intrahospital mail.

 

[confettiflyer]

Hospital mail is slow....it takes a few days for things to get through the mailroom and then delivered and then opened and then filed and then read.

I love everything that requests things via email (LOR's, applications, etc...). I think the only the thing that wouldn't work is transcripts. The way around that is to have applicants fill out grades and then verify the transcript later.

 

[ADN1226]

I picked up all my LORs and sent all materials in one envelope if the program didn't stipulate that things had to be sent directly or emailed. A past resident told me her classmates ran into trouble with LORs and transcripts not arriving on time so I made sure to send in everything myself, with signature confirmation!

 

[Sparda29]

Two of my LORs let me read it and whatnot before they signed it and put them in sealed envelopes for me to mail. Last one, I didn't ask at all if I could read it (she was academia), she asked me for stamps and whatnot for mailing.

 

[bacillus1]

So, to answer my own question: apparently 5 business days. The program finally let me know that my file is complete. This just seems like a really long time, but thankfully I'm not stressed out anymore about this.

 

[ADN1226]

Glad it worked out! Its probably the hospital mailing system