Late Rec Letter, Help Requested

<p>One of my recommendation letters might be postmarked after the first of November because of the situation I am in.</p>

<p>I requested a rec letter from a teacher who retired in the previous year, and she lives in Arkansas while I live in California. I mailed her the materials for the rec letter and an envelope and the likes.</p>

<p>I e-mailed her (about 11 days ago) to tell her about my panic as the deadline approaches and just to reassure myself that everything will be there on time. After 11 days, she still hasn't gotten back to me about whether or not she has sent the letter.</p>

<p>Now, this could just be a delayed response and I'm just worrying too much. It has been a little more than a month since I've mailed her the materials for the rec letter, so she might have already sent in the letter by now. Or, she could just be away from her computer or hasn't checked her e-mail recently. There could also be some entirely different situation preventing her from sending the letter on time.</p>

<p>Should I send a letter to MIT saying that one of my rec letters might show up late when I send the application? Or should I just get another teacher to try and finish a rec letter within the next two days? Should I do both?</p>

<p>I'm sort of tripping out here, just a little bit though. Help would be appreciated lots.</p>

<p>It's really not going to be a giant problem if one of your letters is postmarked late. You do want it to get there, so keep checking with her to see if it's been sent, but if necessary, the letter can be faxed to get it to MIT faster.</p>

<p>You might consider having a backup letter-writer in case the letter is never sent, but you don't need to panic right at this moment.</p>