Missing one LoR

[orioson]

Hi everyone,

I recently submitted most of my secondaries. Unfortunately, my letters of recommendation are the only thing holding me back from being marked complete. My undergrad does not have a committee, but they send a letter packet once they have all of my letters. I have received back 3 out of 4 letters. I have gone to the ends of the earth to try and get the final professor to submit his letter lol...each time he says "yeah I will get it done soon". This professor's letter is pretty important, as he is both science faculty and a PI for most of the research I have done. I am content with the letters I already have, but I feel that this one would help my application quite a bit and is required for a few schools that need 4 letters (eg. Duke).

I am stressing a bit because I am pushing the September "deadline" for being what is considered late in the cycle, and I am losing hope in this professor getting this done anytime soon lol. My undergrad will only submit one letter packet, so I would have to have my missing letter uploaded through AMCAS. Would it be best to keep waiting (pestering) and submit all 4 letters, or just submit what I have and upload the missing one later??

I am not quite sure how schools handle extra letters that are sent later. I would greatly appreciate any advice!

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[SooConfused]

Do you have someone else to write the 4th letter where required? If not, you don't have a lot of options here.

You're right, it's not getting any earlier, and if you have been jerked around for this long, you have no way to know when "soon" will be. Your choices are all less than ideal -- being marked complete without a "pretty important" letter, or waiting who knows how long for it as the cycle slips away. Once you are marked complete, there is no guarantee your letter will be considered at all, assuming you have met the LOR requirements and gone into the review queue.

Your call, but I would have pulled the plug on this letter long before now. Right now, I'd let the writer know that admissions are rolling, your application was submitted "X" weeks ago, IIs have been going out for a month now, and that you are concerned that the cycle is slipping away from you. If he doesn't produce the letter in the next week or so, you really have no choice but to proceed with what you have.

At that point, tell him you had to send the packet without his letter, and give him the AMCAS submission form. Don't assign his letter until it shows up, since assigning it will stop you from being marked complete everywhere. If it shows up, assign it then, and let whatever is going to happen happen, realizing that schools that marked you complete might never consider it.

What he is doing is rude and obnoxious, no matter how busy he is, unless you just asked a few weeks ago. It is unreasonable to expect schools, who are also busy, to wait for him and his letter, assuming you have otherwise met their requirements, or to double back and give you a second review once it arrives.

You might actually be screwed at schools that require 4 letters if he doesn't come through, but are you going to risk sacrificing the rest of the schools while waiting for a single letter for schools that require 4?