<p>Hi all, I've got a question. My child is planning on submitting BS applications and essays during the school break coming up. However, the SSAT scores have already been sent to schools, and my child also asked the guidance councelor and several teachers to write recommendations a couple of weeks ago. I have reason to believe that at least the guidance councelor's recommendations have been sent already. </p>
<p>I've been staying out of the whole application process as much as possible and leaving it up to my kid to make this happen. (I'm a bit of a control freak and this has been an exercise in restraint on my part, but I truly believe I've been successful so far!)</p>
<p>My question though is this: Are these letters of recommendation going to get lost in the shuffle because the applications and fees haven't been sent in yet? I would not be happy if the teachers spent the time to write the letters and then they got tossed or misplaced because no application has been submitted yet. Is my concern unfounded? Are the admissions offices better organized than that? </p>
<p>I also would be pretty grumpy if I had to pay to get the SSAT folks to resend out a score to a school, but I'm not sure that would be the case.</p>
<p>I was always under the impression that schools are prepared to manage all the scores & paperwork (virtual or otherwise) regardless of the order it comes in…</p>
<p>7Dad is right–don’t worry about it. My son’s stuff went in completely cattywampus, and it all got there. Schools are used to stuff coming in before the actual application.</p>
<p>The admissions offices are set up to receive application material piece by piece. They have been doing this forever. Things do get lost occasionally but I think only rarely. Ask the teachers to make a copy of the recommendation letters (if you are using common application, only one copy is needed) just in case they get lost (more likely in the mail). As for SSAT scores, they should send those in electronically nowadays (I am not positive though), but in any case if you have paid once for delivery they shouldn’t ask you to pay again.</p>
<p>I don’t know if the schools receive a paper report these days, or if they have web access to scores. Things are changing rapidly. At any rate, if a school did not receive an SSAT score, I would tend to think that that would be sorted out pretty easily.</p>
<p>In general, I think things are well organized in admissions offices. On the other hand, they are inundated with applications in January, and it can take them some time to open the mail. On occasion, some paperwork may be misplaced or misfiled. With the advent of online applications, this should be less common.</p>
<p>Most schools have some sort of candidate profile which you file online, and I suspect that starts a file. Most teachers use computers these days, so they should have a copy of the essay portion of their recommendations, should something get lost in the mail. I think things do get lost in the mail, judging from the mangled letters I receive sometimes–and my mail volume doesn’t come close to an admissions office’s. </p>
<p>Many schools now have online application trackers, which is handy. If you mail in your application, check the postage before dropping it in the mail. (I know this is basic. Please forgive me.) Keep a copy of anything you send to a school, and if it hasn’t arrived in a reasonable time, send another copy to the school.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure your file is started when you either request information or schedule your interview. The order the other stuff comes in doesn’t matter at all.</p>
<p>@GemmaV: But you don’t care when you get that fee as long as it’s before the deadline, right? (I hope!) </p>
<p>We’ve been sitting on a few candidate profiles (we’ve already interviewed at these schools, sent scores, submitted recommendations) waiting to see if some academic/EC milestones were reached…</p>
<p>Actually, SevenDad, I would send in the “Candidate Profile” ASAP. At least at Hogwarts, it’s easier for us to process a student’s first part of the application BEFORE getting SSATs and recommendations. A student can always send additional information (via mail/e-mail) regarding academic/extracurricular achievements that have taken place since submitting that initial part of the application.</p>