I have one December 1 school, and I think that 2 out of 4 recs haven't been mailed yet .... actually I think one was just mailed today. Anyways, I'm wondering how much leeway I have with this. This is a school for which everything goes to the graduate school and then gets sent to the department after. It seems like this process could take a little while, and who knows when exactly the committee will start to read the applications. In general, is it okay if not all the recs are in by the application deadline, or is this a really bad thing? Additionally, I should add that my official GRE scores won't be sent to a few schools until December 22 when my subject scores are released. But this doesn't seem to be a problem, as it's out of my control. Are recs treated in kind of this way too?
The schools are very understanding about the GRE scores (as told to me by several admissions offices). Each school has its own policies towards the recs: some are very anal about everything being received by the deadline; others are more forgiving about supplementary material.
I was in a similar situation. One of the professors writing letters for me got sick and did not get the letter to me until the yesterday. When I realized they were going to be late I called all of the schools with December 1, deadlines. All of them were pretty understanding, but Boston University said the department was pretty strict about the deadline and recommended I send everything that I had before the deadline, then send the remaining letter late. So, if you have not done so already, I would check with the schools where your application will be late.
