Late Letters of Recommendation

Question

Hi all, wanted to get some feedback on a situation I'm facing.

I applied to Darden and Goizueta in R1, was dinged w/o interview at Darden and accepted to Goizueta. I wanted to apply to a few more schools, so applied to LBS and Sloan in R2.

One of my recommenders (who wrote me a beautiful recommendation in R1) has gone completely off the rails. She answers my texts and in-person visits and promises to write the letters, but won't actually write them. This is a major problem, as I submitted applications to LBS and Sloan under the assumption that she would live up to her word (as she did in R1). I was resigned to the fact that my applications would slip to R3 (because they were missing a rec and therefore incomplete), which sucks but isn't the worst thing in the world.

However, I got dinged from LBS on Wednesday. Quite an unpleasant (really a bit heartbreaking) shock as I didn't think that I was even being considered in R2 because of the incomplete application.

I'm now panicking that the same thing is going to happen for MIT as well and I will have wasted a combined $500 and a lot of time and energy. Can someone more familiar with this process fill me in? I was under the impression that schools wouldn't review an incomplete application. Should I call / email MIT and ask them to consider my application in R3?

keats · Answer

Chances in R3 would be pretty slim unless you have a solid GMAT and darn good work-ex. You can push your recommendation now and post that phone call the Admissions Team and request them for consideration in Round 2.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Sent from my GT-N7100 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

wthi90 · Answer

My GMAT is 730 (Q49, V41, IR8) and I have pretty solid work experience (5 years in engineering, professional engineer's license, PM on a $200 million job, start-up investment fund generating $30k in profit per month).

I was more looking for feedback on whether or not the Sloan AdCom will wait to review my application in the next round or if they've already begun to review my incomplete application and will ding me for its incompleteness, as LBS did.

keats · Answer

I believe most of the schools start reviewing your application and as soon as they note that your file is incomplete on any one of the aspects, they intimate you. I'm assuming that "that" didn't happen with you or in case if happened, you just got to know about it quite late. In case of incompleteness, I'd say  most  of the schools will not review and push your application in the next deadline. The LBS reject can be because of other reasons too than just about incompleteness of one of your recommendations. In fact, in one of the instances that has happened with me at a mid-tier school ( think top 20-30) involved the below case:

I didn't know if one of my recommenders has submitted the reference and I was called for the interview. While we started the interview, the first thing he told me is that they are missing on one recommendation and that you will receive your final decision post submission of that recommendation.

So, in your case, it too can go to the next round. Giving a reject for something that's incomplete on your app is something that a university won't do.

Late Letters of Recommendation

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