<p>How much will having a few late application materials affect the admissions decision? I wasn't notified until email about two weeks ago, and I've sent in the missing materials since then. The admissions office assured that there would be no effect on my admissions decision, though I'm not quite sure I'm buying it...</p>
<p>It’s probably fine. Especially if they say it’s fine. Most colleges end up considering applications not even submitted at all until after the deadline, much less being complete.</p>
<p>I think colleges look at the submission date of the application. My S forgot to send a transcript to one school he applied to, the college called his HS to have the transcript faxed over, and he still got in with a scholarship.</p>
<p>Just because materials are due on Jan 1 doesn’t mean every application gets read on Jan 1. There is a reason it takes until April 1 for them to make all those decisions. It’s still early in the application reading season, cowboy, so I’m sure you are fine. If the missing materials are teacher recs or transcripts, they know that you don’t have control over that. D’s transcript had serious errors and was therefore very late - the school called to explain the problem. It had no impact on her admissions, judging from the outcomes.</p>
<p>If the admissions dept said there would be no effect then I would believe them. If they didn’t want to consider your app they could have just not contacted you for the remaining information.</p>