Has anyone heard of a letter taking this long? Forum

[wswalt]

One of my professors mailed my letter of rec. on December 4th or 5th and it still hasn't been processed. I know they say it normally takes 10-14 days to process. Does anyone know if LSAC is just backed up with letters and transcripts from the holidays or is it normal to take this long? I emailed LSAC and they gave the generic answer that it will be processed as soon as they get to it. Is it possible that it was lost in the mail or has anyone else had a letter take this long?

[hank44]

One of my professors mailed my letter of rec. on December 4th of 5th and it still hasn't been processed. I know they say it normally takes 10-14 days to process. Does anyone know if LSAC is just backed up with letters and transcripts from the holidays or is it normal to take this long? I emailed LSAC and they gave the generic answer that it will be processed as soon as they get to it. Is it possible that it was lost in the mail or has anyone else had a letter take this long?

its probably just the holidays...if its really bugging you though, why not ask them to send another one?

[wswalt]

Yeah that's a good idea. I think I'll have my professor fax the letter this time as well.

[Kohinoor]

Generally, letter should just always be faxed. Don't even give them the option of mailing it.

[sibley]

Yeah I recommend having it faxed. Those get processed same-day. I had one of my LORers do that (he mailed a copy too, though) because it took him a God-awful long time to write it for me.

[antonin]

One of my professors mailed my letter of rec. on December 4th or 5th and it still hasn't been processed. I know they say it normally takes 10-14 days to process. Does anyone know if LSAC is just backed up with letters and transcripts from the holidays or is it normal to take this long? I emailed LSAC and they gave the generic answer that it will be processed as soon as they get to it. Is it possible that it was lost in the mail or has anyone else had a letter take this long?

Yes, my letter took that long. What the nice people at LSAT do is give consideration to the people who need it the most.
Why do I think this?
One of my professors send a letter around december 4, and the other one 2 days later.
The first letter of recommendation showed up within a week.
The second had not shown up three weeks later. (My guess here: The LSAT people were thinking this guy has no recommendation, let's process him one, we can move him up the line so at least he will have one. After all, why else would it take them so long for the second one?)
I call them. To my surprise, they tell me that yeah, they do have the letter from my other professor (the second one), they have just not yet processed it. (My theory: they prioritize issues). The person on the phone also told me to apply and not to worry about the other letter, it should not keep me from applying.
So, I apply over the weekend. On Monday, guess what, the second letter was processed and my applications were completed. So it seems that LSAC felt before it was not worth it to deal with my second letter since I did not yet have my application ready. Once I did though, they moved it up the queue.

[wswalt]

This is a dumb question, but do I need to send a new form to my teacher to have him fax his letter to LSAC?

[Kobe_Teeth]

This is a dumb question, but do I need to send a new form to my teacher to have him fax his letter to LSAC?

Good question. I would assume "yes" because if they had the previous form it would have been processed.

[Kobe_Teeth]

Also, I'm waiting on two letters...glad to hear its not just me. Mine were both sent days after yours so I guess we can take comfort in knowing that its probably not just us.

You wouldn't wanna PM me if your letter goes through would ya? I'll do the same...

[wswalt]

Also, I'm waiting on two letters...glad to hear its not just me. Mine were both sent days after yours so I guess we can take comfort in knowing that its probably not just us.

You wouldn't wanna PM me if your letter goes through would ya? I'll do the same...

Yeah I will definitely pm you if I hear back on the letters. I'm hoping they are processed soon. I'm going nuts waiting for these things

[amorfati42]

Just wanted to say I'm in the same boat. One of my Prof's sent the letter out around Thanksgiving, and I got the email on Dec. 5th that it had been processed. I'm guessing my second Prof sent hers out in early December, but it still hasn't been processed. I emailed my prof right after Christmas to verify she had sent it and she said she had... so I'm guessing/hoping it's just a huge backlog with the holidays.

I just really hope it's in by the end of the week.

[84Sunbird2000]

Also, I'm waiting on two letters...glad to hear its not just me. Mine were both sent days after yours so I guess we can take comfort in knowing that its probably not just us.

You wouldn't wanna PM me if your letter goes through would ya? I'll do the same...

Yeah I will definitely pm you if I hear back on the letters. I'm hoping they are processed soon. I'm going nuts waiting for these things

Yes, I as well. I barely slept last night waiting for the flood to begin (or so I hoped), and the number of posts I've thrown into this thread indicates accurately that I've been online in one spot all day just waiting for responses and sending back whatever additional information they need.

At least, it's an optimistic going nuts, though.

[GoTribe1]

I'm in the same boat waiting for a couple recs to be processed. I know it's the holiday season and everything, but IMHO they should look for people willing to work for x amount of $ to help process this stuff over the break.

[zapper]

One of mine was sent Dec 11 or so, still hasn't been processed, but I submitted my apps last week. I think the odds are probably slim that all of our letters are lost.

[Kobe_Teeth]

What the fuck? Where are my letters???

[lawoftheland]

Both of my rec letters were sent the week before X-mas (via mail) and they both posted to my LSAC account yesterday.

Pretty fast.... if any of you have letters out from 2-3 weeks ago that still haven't posted I'd give a call to LSAC and/or your recommenders. It might be worth a re-fax or re-mail. Time she's a tickin away....

[Sean Bateman]

same situation. They have processed two out of three letters. The professor who wrote the third one verified that he sent it on the 17th of December. Still nothing. Can't imagine they are all lost...lets just hang in there. Too bad it's one of my stronger letters.

[Sangiovese]

One of my letters was mailed in the first week of December and had not shown up as received on the LSAC site as of Monday. It turns out that the writer forgot to sign the letter and it had been returned to him - he just hadn't realized it.

Would have been nice if there had been some sort of updated status to let me know the letter had been received and rejected so I could have let the writer know there was a problem earlier than I did.

[Kobe_Teeth]

Exactly. I have no idea why they are unable to do this. Are the letters at lsac? Is there a problem with the letters? Will they notify me of problems? What the fuck is going on???

The only good thing...again...we're not alone and this is apparently not uncommon.

[deadatheist]

One of my letters was mailed in the first week of December and had not shown up as received on the LSAC site as of Monday. It turns out that the writer forgot to sign the letter and it had been returned to him - he just hadn't realized it.

Would have been nice if there had been some sort of updated status to let me know the letter had been received and rejected so I could have let the writer know there was a problem earlier than I did.

last year this happened to me. call lsac, talk to a person and ask about the status of the letter, and hopefully that person can tell you if the signature was left off (in which case the writer should FAX the signed cover letter and letter asap). unfortunately they won't inform you of this particular hold-up any sooner any other way. gl.

[amorfati42]

Just wanted to say mine came in on Tuesday night... saw it on my LSAC account and was emailed the next day. HUGE relief.

[Kobe_Teeth]

Just wanted to say mine came in on Tuesday night... saw it on my LSAC account and was emailed the next day. HUGE relief.

1 of 2 came today...waiting on the next one...