Sunscreen recommendation?

Is it possible to get into a top graduate school program if one of your recommenders is a few days late in submitting your recommendation letter?

• I had submitted my application for graduate school long time back. Other than one recommendation letter, all other required materials are received by the schools I applied to. My recommender has been very busy with conferences and has not been able to submit the recommendation letter by the application submission deadline. The graduate admissions office at these schools replied that 3-4 days delay in recommendation letter submission is fine and not a problem. I would like to know about similar experiences someone has had and the possible implications of this problem. Is the application with one late recommendation letter considered at par with other applications?

• Answer:

  It depends on the school.  If the school says it is fine, then its fine.  However, I did have one post-doc application in which I got an e-mail saying that my application had been binned for being incomplete (and the application form said in big bold letters that late applications would not be accepted). The good news is that I think it's either/or.  If the school demands a complete application, then they are going to toss out the whole application for being late.  On the other hand, if it's fine with them, then you aren't going to be at a disadvantage in comparison with other applicants.  They'll put all of the applications in a stack and the committee won't even know.