<p>Hi, We are just getting a bit nervous. My son applied early decision to a known school and they seem to be pretty behind in paperwork filing. He sent his ED stuff awhile ago and they still remind us by e-mail about many pieces that he already sent. Does it just take them awhile to gather the pieces together. WE just do not want to miss deadline and it is coming up. I am wondering if he needs to resend pieces. It can be very concerning because it is a bit out of our hands if we already sent it. The colleges appear to be more swamped than ever. any one else experiencing this?</p>
<p>Our experience a couple of years ago was that we found some things did indeed get lost. (One teacher recommendation - all the others she sent made it so I doubt it was her fault.) And sometimes there's just a glitch in the system. (For example, Caltech didn't get a batch of SAT scores, but they were able to tell us the problem had been solved when we called.) This is a case when it's fine to call.</p>
<p>We saw this last year with my son's applications. Not unusual at all for them to be way behind in their filing - and bugging you for things that have been sent in. Given the approaching deadline, I'd have your son gather up all of the information (e.g. SATs ordered on 10/15, teacher rec mailed on 10/18, ...) and then call admissions.</p>
<p>Stuff could be lost - but in more than 100 pieces of paper mailed or electronically submitted last year for my son (we tracked on a spreadsheet), zero were lost. Most often we found the problem was on the other end.</p>
<p>yes, i corresponded with school, they also have a few kids applying with the same name. This is one example when an unusual name makes the student stand out more and makes less room for error. Keeping files and dates sent, now seem like a good idea.</p>
<p>Wait til January to see this in full force. The "Oh Happy Day" post from Dan at the Tufts Admissions office describes a little bit of what it is like in college admissions offices when around apps deadline time. :) (Things are not yet filed or are misplaced but they are found - or you resubmit them.)
Here's Dan's post: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/443596-oh-happy-day-look-mail.html#post5173416%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/443596-oh-happy-day-look-mail.html#post5173416</a> and a telling excerpt:
[quote]
What this means for you: if your stuff is arriving by mail within a week or today (either forward or backwards in time), it may take a bit of time to find its way into your folder. Be patient, be understanding. We have a lot of stuff to sort through.
[/quote]
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<p>But of course, if your senior is worried about a school knowing he had everything in on time for an early deadline, he should call and check on the status of all of the pieces and parts of his app.</p>
<p>My S also got emails and phone calls about missing information.....he just resent and went on his way. If there were duplicates, there were duplicates. One school was short his ACT scores for which he had the receipts in a file, so he was on the phone with them which was a hassle.</p>
<p>This is VERY common. We fax'd transcript and one teacher recommendation that just didn't "meet up" with the rest of his file. If the deadline is Nov. 1, I'd call the admissions office and see what is still missing.</p>
<p>There were a couple of times when my daughter was told items were missing that were in her folder, but hadn't been entered into their "data received" system. It just took a call to inquire if the college had something, they would look in her file and tell her everything was complete.</p>
<p>At one school, son sent everything in -- in early August. He checked a few days ago--nothing but the app had been rec'd according to the website. We called admissions (worried!) but they said it was a 'glitch' in the computer that things were not posted as received (they had it all). Little nerve-racking.</p>