How much does it hurt if your LOR's come in late?

[dbeast]

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Applying early is obviously extremely important... However, if everything is in except your LOR's (waiting on my undergrad school to send the packet), does it completely negate getting your application in early? Obviously you can't get interview invites without the LOR's in, even if you've already done the secondary, so it seems like I'm losing precious time. I'm trying to hustle my school to send them out ASAP, but they have to write a ton of cover letters and I understand they're busy. Would you guys recommend telling the committee to skip the cover letter to get it out sooner? Thanks!

 

[NickNaylor]

If you have a committee letter or packet and he cover letter isn't necessary, I wouldn't bother with it, especially if you're going to have to wait a while (ie, after August or September) for it.

 

[bravofleet4]

your application still needs to get verified. depending when you submit, that could take anywhere from days to weeks to a month. you need your LOR though when secondaries come around. at that point, without those, the schools won't even look at your app.

so in short yes it can still save you time to submit early without LORs