apply now or wait for letters Forum

[tbc83]

Long time lurker, first time poster. My question is if I would be better off submitting my applications immediately, or waiting for a letter of recommendation to roll in from my boss. He has sort of flaked out on me. I know he will write a great letter, but his ability to get things done on any kind of timeline are somewhat lacking. He should hopefully be back and have my letter sent in by Monday, but I suppose there is no guarantee.

It is worth noting that I am a pretty big splitter and I have been out of school and working as a process engineer (chemical) for 4 years (at potential matriculation). Would my chances for admission/scholarships be higher if I submit applications now or wait until late next week/the week after for the letter. I have a letter from a professor and another from a co-worker, just waiting on the supervisor.

Thanks,
-T

[Strange]

Just apply now and add the letter later. You can fax it individually to schools if you need to.

[rachelwang712]

Just apply now and add the letter later. You can fax it individually to schools if you need to.

you are sure that application can be submitted w/out letters?

[ahduth]

Long time lurker, first time poster. My question is if I would be better off submitting my applications immediately, or waiting for a letter of recommendation to roll in from my boss. He has sort of flaked out on me. I know he will write a great letter, but his ability to get things done on any kind of timeline are somewhat lacking. He should hopefully be back and have my letter sent in by Monday, but I suppose there is no guarantee.

It is worth noting that I am a pretty big splitter 173/2.9 and I have been out of school and working as a process engineer (chemical) for 4 years (at potential matriculation). Would my chances for admission/scholarships be higher if I submit applications now or wait until late next week/the week after for the letter. I have a letter from a professor and another from a co-worker, just waiting on the supervisor.

Thanks,
-T

If it's just a week or two, I'd wait personally. But splitters... play a particular ballgame, so I'm not sure. The co-worker one I'd actually not submit period. They're only interested in people who supervised you academically or professionally.

As an aside, I'm assuming you've been told to cough up the money to apply to Northwestern if they didn't waive your fee? You're a serious splitter with serious work experience and a shiny LSAT score.

[tbc83]

Yah, Northwestern is my #1 choice. I am applying ED and I know that I am unlikely to get in with the scholarship changes there, but I figure that showing the strong interest will certainly not hurt my chances getting rolled into RD. All of my paperwork will need to be in to them by Dec. 1st so that is kind of my hard date for submitting everything.

I didn't originally plan on even having my co-worker write a letter, but given that my boss was flaking out on me I wanted to have someone from work if he completely failed to write my letter in time. Assuming my boss gets it mailed on time, I will likely not use the co-worker letter anywhere. At this point I imagine I will wait until Monday and check with my boss before making a decision.

On another note I am doing my interview with Northwestern on Tuesday. I kind of hate to go in for the interview without the paperwork being submitted. Would it maybe make sense to go ahead and send them my application and fax them a copy of my boss's letter direct next week? Then I could hold off on the other schools until LSAC processes the letter.

-T

[bdubs]

LORs aren't that big of a deal. They won't process your file until it's complete, but you should submit and get your letters in ASAP. Most schools will let you supplement with additional LORs if they get processed after your file is technically complete.