<p>How long does it take for a mailed letter to get from Illinois to Texas? How many days are we usually supposed to allow for all snail mail to reach colleges?</p>
<p>90% of the time First Class takes 2-3 days.</p>
<p>In my personal experience, the closer you get to Christmas, the slower the mail delivery becomes.</p>
<p>But if it's news you've been deferred it can take even longer. At least our experience was that while mail from CA to NY is usually pretty fast, it isn't always. If you are mailing something to the school you might want to play it safe and use one of the guaranteed delivery options.</p>
<p>if the kid lives in a dorm give it an extra day or so to be sorted by the college and delivered to the mail box in the dorm.</p>
<p>Mail is so unpredictible, it's hard to say how long it will take. At work we always say 5-10 days, regardless to if we're mailing it up the street or to the other side of the country. I've seen people two towns over receive it in 8 days and five states over get it in 3 days. It just depends on unknown factors. I wish I knew for sure.</p>