What if my teacher doesn't submit the rec letter i assigned her to?

Hi! Ok so, on the CommonApp, my applications are ready to go for Fordham University & Temple University for the EA deadline. I filled everything out and uploaded my essay, etc. I have a recommendation letter from my counselor, and I also invited one of my teachers to submit/write a rec letter for me.

However, I’ve been reminding her and she just says “I’ll get started soon”. I asked her to write a rec letter for me 3 weeks ago and I gave her a deadline and everything and she said she would do it. She still hasn’t even started the recommendation letter and I have to submit my application in a week! What do I do???

What if she doesn’t submit the recommendation letter? Will this affect my chances? Should I wait till the recommendation letter is done before submitting my application? Or should I just delete her invitation and only have one rec letter from my counselor? HELP!! I’m super stressed about this. Thank you in advance!!

Submit your part when you are ready. The application deadline refers to the student part of the application. Colleges are a little more flexible with the parts that come from others.

Thank you so much! Do you know what would happen if she doesn’t submit it at all, would this affect my chances? Thanks again!!

At our school it is the counselor’s responsibility to make sure your teacher meets their commitment. We are told to contact the counselor if the letter isn’t submitted in the 3-4 days before the deadline.

This will vary somewhat by school. Do you really think your teacher is a flake? If so, use someone else for your remaining apps. Or, if you think it’s just you being jittery, try not to be too obnoxious hounding her!

Just respectfully remind her of the deadline when you have her class/see her. At my school it is completely up to the student to make sure everything is in. Just to be safe, try to be as persistent as possible without becoming a complete nuisance (and make it up to her later with a thank you note and chocolates/other little gift of appreciation…!)

Have you spoken to the teacher recently? It the teacher aware of the deadline? It is OK to politely touch base with him/her. If you haven’t done so yet you use that conversation to ask if there is anything you can provide to help him/her write the recommendation (ex. resume if you have one, list of activities/awards etc.). And be sure to thank him/her again for writing the recommendation.

Yes, I did provide her with a brag sheet with all my stats and extracurriculars and interests, I also gave her an earlier deadline (October 16th) and a day or so after the deadline I asked her about it and she was kind of just like “oh, I haven’t been able to do that”. So I asked her again if she could have it done this week, and she said she would but she seemed very busy so I’m just extremely scared she won’t have time to do the recommendation letter.

Thanks to everybody who has replied! I will talk to her tomorrow again and kindly remind her. I think I’m just very nervous and slightly paranoid. Thanks again!!

Be careful not to cross the line between reminding her and nagging. Most colleges give a bit of leeway on the deadlines for things outside of the student’s control like LORs. Try to relax.