<p>I have been made aware of some frightening news. During the pre-Christmas snow storm, our school district was closed the 2 days before winter break. In the confusion, one or more of my school forms were not sent to a college(s). Will my proverbial ship be sunk if my guidance counselor mails the transcript, recs, other commonapp forms on the 4th? </p>
<p>If this happened with someone's DS/D , please, please tell me what to do.</p>
<p>Thank You!
-A Very Stressed,
Tilgaham</p>
<p>No, colleges spend most of the month of January organizing applications. As long as your part is in on time you won’t get dinged for the school being late. One of my older son’s letters of recommendations went missing and the teacher just sent it in later when they realized they were one letter short.</p>
<p>I’m stressing way too much over this. O.O</p>
<p>As mathmom said, you’re fine. My child’s EA deadline was 11/1, we sent in everything by that time. But we noticed, in the application status, there’s a message saying something like if you haven’t sent in the score, rec, school report…, have them here before 11/18 … So a few days late is definately ok.</p>
<p>When it involves materials sent by you, they are strict about deadlines. For materials sent by others, they are more lenient. They know you don’t have complete control over teacher rec mailings, transcripts from the GC and such. </p>
<p>I live in the snowbelt and this is always happening. Schools close. It was a fierce winter in parts of the country in the past two weeks. </p>
<p>As Mathmom explained above, the colleges spend January organizing their files. Some don’t even answer the phones during January, this task is so time-consuming for them. Meanwhile, other outside materials arrive post-deadline, and get popped into your file.</p>
<p>Really, do not worry. You did your job.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much. It’s for Harvard too. :D</p>
<p>Did you send any pieces directly from you to Harvard, or was it all bound together and sent from your school?</p>
<p>I applied online. My school mails everything else (all recs, commonapp forms, transcripts,etc) in big envelopes.</p>
<p>OK, as long as you applied online, you’re okay. Drink some hot chocolate.</p>
<p>If you had sent nothing from yourself , I’d have suggested an email to the Admissions Department today (Dec. 31) explaining the storm and to anticipate receiving the entire package. Now I say: do nothing! </p>
<p>Or if you still feel concerned and don’t want us to be the final word, phone the university admissions office early today for guidance. They may or may not be open. It can’t hurt, just use a calm phone voice.</p>
<p>Good luck and best wishes.</p>
<p>They’re open on New Years Eve?</p>
<p>Many college administrative offices stay open even when classes are not in session.</p>
<p>I just searched around the Harvard U website for Admissions, but couldn’t find mention of their office hours this week. </p>
<p>If they’re open at all, it’d be more likely before noon than after noon. Officially the holiday of New Years is only January 1. Some offices, stores, banks and so forth have complete daytime hours on Dec. 31, while others begin to close at 3 p.m. or noon as they wish.</p>
<p>Harvard will have to sift through thousands of applications after Jan. 1. It probably takes a couple of weeks to file everything. Don’t worry about your teacher recc or transcripts, etc. arriving late. Harvard isn’t going to shred your app because of that. Saying this as someone who has been an alum interviewer for Harvard.</p>
<p>MIT informed my DS when a letter of recc was missing from his EA application. They were fine with letting the GC just fax them a copy. I assume this kind of thing happens from time to time – no worries.</p>
<p>I appreciate the input from everyone! Have a good New Year and stay safe!
Now I can just sit back and hope they enjoy my app. </p>
<p>Best Wishes,
Tilgaham</p>