I recently submitted my Common Application to my first round of schools on August 29th. As of today, September 7th, I am still waiting for my guidance counselor and math teacher to finish (or rather, begin) uploading their recommendations and school report.
With school starting this week, I understand that both will be very busy and may not have the time to fulfill the requirements posed by the Common App right away. Can my app still be reviewed without my counselor’s completion of the school report? If not, am I at a disadvantage compared to other applicants whose counselor and teacher(s) filled out their recommendations immediately?
I’m panicked, and would appreciate any advice or help. Thanks!
First of all, GCs and teachers are well aware of deadlines. Your application will be reviewed by admissions when all the relevant info on your app is uploaded: transcripts, recs, school report, and official test scores (sent directly from the testing agencies). This does not prohibit you from submitting your common app though. The college will review your application once it is complete. Once you submit, the college will send you an email that they received it and give you a portal and login info so you can check the status of your application. You will see what has been received and what is still missing. Admissions offices usually update their portals nightly. Also, if your school uses Naviance, you can check to see when your GC uploaded recs and transcripts.
You are not at a disadvantage at all. Colleges are not first come/first served. They wait until all your file is complete and then they review and render a decision for the round you are applying to. For example, if you are applying ED, then you will have an answer mid-December. If RD, then you will generally have your decision end of March. Unless it’s rolling decision, colleges don’t piecemeal their decisions.
You’re new to the process; your teachers and guidance counselors are not.
Today is September 7(and, by the way, it’s a national holiday.). It has been ONE week since you submitted your materials. And that one week, in many schools in this country, was the first week of school.
I’m also guessing that you’re not the only Senior they’re working on.
When I write my letters of recommendation, here’s what I do: I write two or maybe 3 per day-- more than that and they all start to sound the same. When I’m done with my 38 or 40 letters, I upload ALL of them onto Naviance. All at the same time. That way, I don’t somehow miss one.
I honestly think you’re over-reacting here. Give the professionals the time they need to do the job they do every single year. Realize that you’re not the only senior they’re dealing with, and that every application is equally important to them. It’s also entirely possible that the school computer hasn’t yet uploaded last year’s statistics. (I know that Power School isn’t yet showing my son’s change in GPA from Junior year.)
Deep breaths. Go out and enjoy this last unofficial day of summer. Take a nap, take a walk, call your grandmother. The professionals in your school are well aware of the deadlines and will get the materials in with lots of time to spare. They really do want what’s best for you. Give them time to do their jobs.
@bjkmom, sounds like you are a popular teacher! 40 letters is a lot. My sister is a teacher as well and gets many many requests as well and I know how much work these are. That’s why I told my kids to ask early. Both of them wrote emails to their teachers and also followed up with them in person. And a thank you note with a gift card and/or goodies was given at the end of the process, too.
