As I try to help my son keep track of all the components of his many college applications I wonder what the consequences would be if he were missing a piece of one of the puzzles. What if his guidance counselor failed to send a recommendation, or his test scores went missing, or they never received his “official” transcript? I’ve read stories here on CC where some unfortunate applicant was rejected due to missing parts of their application. Does anyone have a story to share or lesson to be learned from personal experience? Maybe you were rejected by one of your top choices or you were deemed ineligible for a major scholarship all because you or someone/something out of your control let you down or missed a deadline. New to the process and trying to learn and avoid mistakes.
It happened. The son’s teachers did not send recommendation letters to his 2 EA schools. Fortunately the schools notified him and he asked the teachers to send again. He was accepted EA to one the two.
Your son should check the application status on the college web sites. Be aware that the status usually has late update. So don’t panic.
If the applications and essays are submitted before the deadline then it should be OK. Grade reports, test scores, recommendations,… can be a little late because it’s beyond student control.
After your son applies to a a school they will send a log in ID for their system so that he can check his application status. It usually takes a few days but can take longer if he applies right near a deadline when they are getting a lot of other applications at the same time. When your son logs in to his account he will be able to see if pieces are missing.
Also, it’s fully in the school’s interest to get all parts of the file complete. They’ll repeatedly contact the school and student, if necessary.
One of the absolutes of CC is near Jan 1st there will be 100s of posts by nervous applicants fearing the worst b/c a LOR or some other required doc isn’t attached and their HS offices are closed.
If doable, I highly recommend telling teachers a date a full week before actual due date for recs. It’s amazing how many teachers are serious procrastinators.
(I know, I know, they’re busy, they have a lot to do, they’re underpaid, etc. etc. But I think they should not exhibit the same behavior they would frown on if their students did it.)
Many colleges will alert you to any missing parts, but best to be proactive. I think it’s OK to ask a teacher to pop student a text or email when rec submitted. Also totally all right for student to make a polite status inquiry of teacher maybe a week or 2 before due. Ditto guidance counselor, etc.
^I wouldn’t assume “it’s fully in the school’s interest to get all parts of the file complete.” Most schools have plenty of applicants and it’s a lot of work tying up loose ends.
We did not have problems with college apps at the excellent boarding school my D attended but we did have several eleventh-hour submissions for recs for boarding school and special scholarship/special program apps during middle school.
First of all, I would suggest that you or your S request an official transcript from the school to review before it is sent out. Our GC gives the student and parent a copy of the transcript after junior year grades are in to review for mistakes. That would give you some comfort that all is well.
When D15 applied, most schools have her a login to check the progress of the application. We also use Naviance, and that was updated with the status of what Ss school was doing. We saw when transcripts were sent, etc. most college were happy to answer questions and let us know if they were missing anything. So don’t feel shy about calling them to check on application status. As long as the kids part of the process is done (including sending test scores) by the deadline, they are good. Colleges know that the student has no control over the HS.
If teachers’ rec letters are a week or two late, the applicant won’t be penalized. If they forget entirely, of course, there may be consequences.
We attended college night at S17’s school and the college counselors said the biggest mistake they have seen many kids make is since there is the testing section of the CA for self-reporting, students are forgetting to have the testing agencies send the official score reports to the colleges Some schools don’t require official reports until after a student has been accepted so this nuance of different criteria for different schools could be part of the issue with why kids forget.
We finally decided that it’s just too hard to keep track of all the pieces of material need to be sent in. So DD started a spread sheet to keep track of the status of each requirement for each school.
How would a kid know if they were rejected due to a “missing piece”? My D11 racked up a few rejections and they were all form letters of the “We receive far more qualified applicants than we have space for blah blah blah…” variety. Have kids gotten rejections that say “We cannot accept you due to the fact that we did not receive your HS transcript” or such?
I was sorting through old papers this week and found D11’s LoR (the teacher had given her a copy) dated December 15 which brought back memories – yes she missed all her EA deadlines and was damn close on RA. Her school had no Naviance and an incompetent GC, so there might have been missing pieces.
D17 has requested her LoR’s and I’ve sent scores for all her EA schools. Once she gets the CA done (with essays, yech), I think it’s just a matter of keeping an eye on Naviance and the individual college app portals. Like @4beardolls I also have a table with all the reqs, deadlines and so forth. I checked each school’s website for these items and Naviance didn’t always match, so beware!
@snoozn - I think that if there is a “missing piece”, the application will not be reviewed at all and no decision will be given. The school will just consider it to be another incomplete application.
I agree with @SoofDad
It’s so important to keep track of the status of your application. I’m sure there have been kids waiting for an answer long after decision date only to find out that, for example, their test scores were not sent, or their LOR never arrived, and it’s too late to do anything about it.
I’m sure it’s rare, but if a kid is applying to 10 schools and each one requires 5 or 6 pieces to the puzzle, chances are something will be late or altogether missing.
The intent of this thread was not to stress anyone out, but to help people avoid problems.
love this idea. thanks
I am the spreadsheet queen. We’ve used so many spreadsheets. Right now we have one for application requirements, essay topics, scholarships, and decision/notification deadlines. We also keep track of things on Naviance and the school specific application portals. So long as you keep on top of things, there shouldn’t be any missing pieces.
So now that the first major deadline (Nov 1) has passed, any “missing pieces” horror stories that we can all learn from?
I know that the UMD-CP app caused some stress for people, including me.
But you check your portal and see what’s logged in or not. You stay on top of it. Proactive.
“I think that if there is a “missing piece”, the application will not be reviewed at all and no decision will be given.” No, they can review if one piece is missing. You just can’t proceed from there, without the essentials.
I don’t think this is a “horror story” (yet) but D has a potential issue with 1st marking period grades.
She looked at the portals for all of her schools, and only one explicitly states that they need 1st MP grades, so she asked her GC to send them there. None of her other portals indicated that they were a need, so she only requested the one to be sent.
However, while on the admissions page (not the portal) of one of the other schools, it indicates that seniors need to send 1st MP grades. The portal for this school explicitly said that they would reach out to the student if there are missing pieces, so she didn’t stress too much.
I think the lesson learned for S’19 is to have the 1st qtr grades sent to all schools, regardless of whether they want them or not.
It’s always fun when a “dormant” bookmarked thread comes back to life!
No horror stories as of yet, but a definite issue. The GC letter has been an absolute pita. D requested it back in September verbally and through Naviance. She requested it the same as her teacher LoR’s (which came through with no problems), as her GC was in the drop-down box where you also request teachers. The GC was quite late, somewhat understandably since she was co-writing the LoR with an adviser who knows D much better. D and I were both concerned when it didn’t show up on Naviance even after she was assured it had been submitted. Monday she went in and GC explained the the GC LoR is requested and sent separately from the teacher LoR’s. She even showed D on the screen that it had been sent. However it is not showing up in any of the portals yet, so I’m still worried. I’ll give it until Friday and then have D inquire again or I’ll send an email if she prefers.
Kinda funny one: One portal wasn’t working with the login info they sent and eventually locked us out. I told D she needed to write to them. She always shows me her college emails before sending them and this one (in reply to the portal info email) just said “This login and pin are not working.” I told her she should make it a little “nicer,” so she rolled her eyes and handed me her laptop. I typed up a nicer version (still trying to sound like a student of course!), got her approval and sent it. One of those “only a helicopter parent” moments. Anyway, they fixed it!
Husband and myself went thru the list of 20 schools or so, and looked up each one in terms of which required all sittings of SATs and which didn’t , and how many subject tests each college required, if any so student could decide what she needed to optimize her apps.
For example Georetown requires 3 subject tests, and some are test optional like Bowdoin. Still, even though scores were paid for and sent by college board and we had receipts, there were schools that reported they hadn’t received them. I remember needing for example to resend them to Brown.
Hopefully, the school is on top of sending out recs, and transcripts. The other problem we encountered is that Guidance Counselor (although had been doing this for years, and it was our first experience) overlooked the MIT requirement for a Math teacher rec. Our boarding HS limits rec letters to 2 teachers, and the 2 our student picked were not Math teachers. At the last minute we realized this, not the college counselor, and she had to get special dispensation by the school to make an exception and get the Math teacher rec, and then the school insisted, she had to omit one of her other recs, and then the Math rec would only be sent to MIT, though we thought it was to her advantage for some schools that said they would accept 3.
There are all kinds of moving parts. Oh, the kicker was for our first student, she never got a rejection or acceptance letter from one college (who will remain nameless, but it was an ivy). They had accepted our cc payment, and the portal said all parts of the app were received. When she called to find out yea or nay, they had to get back to her. They had to find her application! It took awhile for them to send her the “we had so many qualified applicants” letter of rejection. Geesh!
Fwiw, snoozn, it can take days or more to update the portal. Lots of threads by worried kids.
And, sorry, but wasn’t the need for a math teacher LoR on the web site?