I’m having my girl scout leader write my third letter of recommendation for both USC and SCA. My applications for both are due Dec. 1. My question is, can my GS leader send my letters of rec AFTER the deadline? or does it have to be by the deadline?
@RadRach I’m not sure for this school specifically. But I think it needs to be before the deadline because it’s something needed to assess the application as a whole. I don’t think it’s something like transcripts that can be sent later.
Schools usually do not hold it against applicants for things that are beyond the applicant’s control, but this varies by each school. Best would be to check each school’s FAQs and / or ask their admissions office (if not already covered in FAQs).
Per an email from SCA Admissions to my daughter & all applicants today…
“In order to be considered for admission to the School of Cinematic Arts, you must submit all of the following by December 1, 2016.”
And 3 Letters of Recommendation were in the list that follows. The only safe advice is to get everything in by Dec 1st.
Good Luck
For Engineering students, only three “teacher” recommendation letters are allowed on Common Application. DD has three teachers letter submitted for Common App accordingly. In addition, she has a community service leader who would like to send in her recommendation. How could that be accomplished?
Per the USC Admissions Hang-Out Videos on youtube.com, applicants can have extra materials that they deem critically important to be considered by the Admissions Staff sent in to admscan@usc.edu
The sender should include the applicant’s full name, date of birth, common application ID # and/or USC ID #. Anything sent to that email address will be scanned and then attached to the applicant’s file.
Alternatively, you could use this link: http://admission.usc.edu/findyourcounselor.html to locate the admissions counselor for the applicant’s high school/area and send it to him or her directly. But the general email address above may be deemed less intrusive.
I would just not recommend overwhelming them with extra’s. Just keep in mind that they are reviewing 50K+ application files.
Good Luck
@WWWard, thank you for your detailed information. I really appreciate it.
@4beardolls you’re welcome
Great info! Much appreciated here too!
@kath00 you’re welcome
USC is not a fan of extra materials, it should be significant and add value. Hard to believe a 4th recommendation would say anything new than the other three. Quantity does not equal quality and sometimes just says person doesn’t follow instructions.
We submitted a 4th. DD had GC rec, 2 teacher recs and her coach was the 4th. Really felt like it added a ton about her sports, teamwork, etc. If they don’t want it, I figured they can just ignore it. But we got to see that letter (the only one we read) and it was fantastic and addressed some aspect of her that no one else had, I am sure.