A bad sign, or just more paranoia? Forum

[livitup11]

Forgive me if this is a totally stupid question fuelled by irrational anxiety.

I finished my applications around the first of October. Unfortunately, due to a tardy lor, I didn't go complete until thanksgiving many places- those only requiring one were satisfied by my prompt recommender. As persistent as I was with reminders to the other, out of politeness and appreciation for them agreeing to write a letter for me I held back from asking them "WHY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH MY FUTURE LIKE THIS??? EVERYTHING ELSE HAS BEEN IN FOR OVER A MONTH!"

So now, I wait. and I wait. and I worry whether it is a very bad sign that I'm still waiting to hear back from 7 out of 9 schools I applied to. Lawschoolnumbers.com doesn't help- those with numbers similar to mine who went complete around the same date have already been accepted. I know it's only January, but still...

Should I worry, or might I be hearing soon? Be honest, but please be gentle.

edit- I actually may have gone complete a little later than that- the final lor was rec'd by the Lsac November 17th.

[Snoopy1216]

I do not think that it is a bad sign that you have not heard back yet. I also do not think you should fret too much over the "auto-admit/deny" time sequence in which many TLS-ers tend to do. You have to imagine that they have a thousands of other applications, thus they have much to consider. And, it seems to me that if you have made it through the first few rounds of rejections, you are in a good place. No news IS good news. They may just be holding your apps (among HUNDREDS of others) to see how they fair up against the entire applicant pool. I wouldn't compare myself to those with the same numbers too much because the rest of the application does count. You have no idea what softs they had that might have allowed them to be contacted sooner. Just remember that, contrary to popular belief, no news does not mean rejection (AT ALL).

You'll be fine, don't worry so much. If you hear nothing by the beginning March, then you should wonder where your apps have gone.

[livitup11]

No news IS good news. They may just be holding your apps (among HUNDREDS of others) to see how they fair up against the entire applicant pool. I wouldn't compare myself to those with the same numbers too much because the rest of the application does count. You have no idea what softs they had that might have allowed them to be contacted sooner. Just remember that, contrary to popular belief, no news does not mean rejection (AT ALL).

Whew.

[T14_Scholly]

In my experience, people who submit their applications with an LOR still to be sent are generally frowned upon by admissions committees. They tend to suspect that the recommender must not actually know you very well, since he/she is taking his/her time in writing the letter and/or is unaware that you have already applied. You will notice that some schools' applications ask you when you requested a letter from each recommender; they do this on the assumption that if there is a significant lapse of time between the date the applicant requested the letter and the date the applicant applied, it means the recommender took a lot of time in writing his/her letter because he/she didn't consider the applicant important.

[livitup11]

I didn't sumbit the applications until they were complete, sorry if I was not clear about that. I sent in my materials to the lsac and then they sent a report once I had everything. I'm just sharing my general frustration that he didn't get it in sooner. The person actually does know me well and knew that I had everything else ready to go, but is VERY busy and is a bit of a procrastinator.

I'm more concerned about my timetable.

[MarkRenton]

In my experience, people who submit their applications with an LOR still to be sent are generally frowned upon by admissions committees. They tend to suspect that the recommender must not actually know you very well, since he/she is taking his/her time in writing the letter and/or is unaware that you have already applied. You will notice that some schools' applications ask you when you requested a letter from each recommender; they do this on the assumption that if there is a significant lapse of time between the date the applicant requested the letter and the date the applicant applied, it means the recommender took a lot of time in writing his/her letter because he/she didn't consider the applicant important.

This seems like a rather large assumption to make. Not denying your claim though. It seems like this might be fair if and only if the tenor of the letter matched up with the delay in submission. But, this would seem to be a rather large leap for an adcom to make otherwise. That said, maybe you're right.

[devilishangelrjp]

In my experience, people who submit their applications with an LOR still to be sent are generally frowned upon by admissions committees. They tend to suspect that the recommender must not actually know you very well, since he/she is taking his/her time in writing the letter and/or is unaware that you have already applied. You will notice that some schools' applications ask you when you requested a letter from each recommender; they do this on the assumption that if there is a significant lapse of time between the date the applicant requested the letter and the date the applicant applied, it means the recommender took a lot of time in writing his/her letter because he/she didn't consider the applicant important.

Why do they assume that? Couldn't they just as easily assume that the recommender was choosing his/her words carefully, or was really trying to write the best recommendation they could for the candidate and didn't want to do a rush job?

[livitup11]

Devilish and Mark, I concur. I do also see the logic in what T14 is saying, it just seems like a rather far-fetched assumption for admissions to draw in all instances of this happening. In my case, it was a difference of about 3 weeks. Once I told him I had finished everything, my recommender got on the ball. I'm rather happy he didn't just slap something together, and I wouldn't have expected him to prioritize my letter above some of his other responsibilities. That being said, it would have been nice if this had happened a few weeks earlier.

[wadeny]

No news IS good news.

Yes and no. It probably depends on what school you're talking about, but the longer it takes to hear back is not always a good thing. OP, I don't mean to sound like it's all gloom and doom, but if you find yourself waiting around for another 1-2 months, chances are a WL (at best) is likely headed your way. Sure, acceptances happen later in the cycle, but just much more rarely, according to LSN at least. I wouldn't worry too much at this point, but I might send out a couple LOCIs if you don't hear anything for another month. Most offices, I'm guessing, are inundated with apps right now, but I'm sure some have started sorting "strong" and "weak" apps to some degree.

In my experience, people who submit their applications with an LOR still to be sent are generally frowned upon by admissions committees. They tend to suspect that the recommender must not actually know you very well, since he/she is taking his/her time in writing the letter and/or is unaware that you have already applied. You will notice that some schools' applications ask you when you requested a letter from each recommender; they do this on the assumption that if there is a significant lapse of time between the date the applicant requested the letter and the date the applicant applied, it means the recommender took a lot of time in writing his/her letter because he/she didn't consider the applicant important.

This sounds like BS to me. Considering that most schools have enough difficulty processing thousands of apps, how are they feasibly going to keep track of something like this? LORs come in all the time after apps are sent in.

[98234872348]

Only schools on that list that should come as a surprise are BU and maybe UT (but probably not).