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I hate to post a horror story, but I had a letter of recommendation submitted on January 23rd, then again via overnight mail on January 30th, then finally had it faxed Wednesday, February 15th. It still has not posted, and hopefully it will today (February 21st), but otherwise I'm sending it directly to all the schools.

Just a warning to other applicants: do not trust LSAC with these letters of recommendation. They say two weeks, but that isn't true. You will get a lot of different answers if you call them and ask; some say don't fax because it will not come through and be legible, the next person will say to fax it. And if they tell you to wait, send it again.

All this comes from waiting to ask for letters of recommendation; I waited for the December LSAT score because I'm a grad student and didn't want to bother professors until I knew for sure I would be able to go. That was stupid. If you think you want to go to law school, ask for your recommendations early, even if it's like July the year prior. Get those posted so that they do not hold you up; my applications have been on hold now for two weeks at some schools because they will not review without that second letter, and everybody who is waiting right now knows how long those two weeks have been.

Moral of the story: get your letters in EARLY, and if you don't, then do not hesitate to fax. DO NOT WAIT. They will be unapologetic and eat up weeks of your time; bombard them with faxes, letters and everything until it posts. They are busy, but do not trust their "5-7 days after arrival" comment. It's bullshit. Sorry to rant, just hope other people will be more careful to act early than I was. I hope I still get into some of my top choices, but I know that two weeks of other applicants being reviewed has not helped my chances. Get on the ball early. Delayed LORs would be a really stupid reason to get rejected.

Good luck everyone!

This is very solid advice. If I had gotten my recs on time, I wouldn't have had to wait a cycle.

Also avoid language like "take your time" and "there is no rush" even if there isn't. Many professors will abuse this leeway and you'll have nothing to say when it's January and nothing's been mailed out.

UPDATE: A month has passed, and finally a lady named Barbara at LSAC offered to let me send second letter via fax to her private fax number at LSAC. Did this, she has it now, and she says it should post by tomorrow. If you are waiting on LSAC, ask about this option early! If it doesn't post, ask for Barbara (or Antonette, I think) and ask if you can send it to their private fax. Others will give you the run-around.... anyway that has been my experience, hope it helps someone!

They are quite hit and miss. My first LOR took nearly a month to be posted, the second one was up in 2 days. Just get all your forms in early folks.

I had three letters submitted in early November, and one just never made it. I assumed it got lost somewhere, but I had already gotten into a top choice, and with two others I wasn't too concerned, so I didn't follow up on it. 2/15, it got posted.

Seriously, wtf LSAC.