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Help! *currently Outstanding* Reference Letter On Omsas?


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I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! lol it's really pathetic that I'm that excited about this but my second referee shows as received. First referee is still outstanding. So, to sum up, we're going from latest sent to earliest sent apparently with my application. One more, and I close my eyes on this until Jan/Feb.

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I haven't released my scores to OUAC yet since I also took on the 23rd and was told to wait to request a release until after? I'm kind of worried since my mcat is showing as not received, even though I did give my AAMC account information on my app...

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One of my references was sent in mid-september and OMSAS still hasn't received it. I'm worried that it may have been lost, and that I would be disqualified from UofT due to their hard Oct 1 deadline. Calling in, the admissions office told me that if my letter really was lost, I could still qualify for UofT if I could provide proof that the letter was sent before oct 1 and just never arrived. I have no idea how I would get proof of this if it was just sent by normal mail and not expressed... Not really sure what they're expecting there.

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thepit, I really feel for you. I am surprised that UofT is not extending their deadline given that OMSAS is having major issues with LORs getting  "lost" this year (and it's not like it's in your control at all). In terms of proof, I totally get what you are saying because I was thinking the same incase I had to with my LORs. The best idea I could come up with is if you've emailed them a reminder to send it out, or if they emailed you to let you know they had mailed the letter. I think it's ridiculous how they say not to xpresspost. Without that, or using something like registered mail, there isn't any proof. The only other option would be if your referees happened to pay for this at the postal office instead of just putting a stamp on it and kept the receipt. That is a long shot though as I don't think many would keep receipts like that! Fingers crossed for you that it all works out!

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thepit, I really feel for you. I am surprised that UofT is not extending their deadline given that OMSAS is having major issues with LORs getting  "lost" this year (and it's not like it's in your control at all). In terms of proof, I totally get what you are saying because I was thinking the same incase I had to with my LORs. The best idea I could come up with is if you've emailed them a reminder to send it out, or if they emailed you to let you know they had mailed the letter. I think it's ridiculous how they say not to xpresspost. Without that, or using something like registered mail, there isn't any proof. The only other option would be if your referees happened to pay for this at the postal office instead of just putting a stamp on it and kept the receipt. That is a long shot though as I don't think many would keep receipts like that! Fingers crossed for you that it all works out!

 

It really is ridiculous that they aren't extending the deadline; after putting in all that effort on the UofT essays, just for it to get tossed out because of something that isn't under my control or even my fault. I do have an e-mail from mid September where my referee confirms that they mailed out my letters. I told UofT, and I was just informed that they 'might take it into consideration'. Not much I can do at this point. I'm not even sure if I should resend another letter or wait it out. Thank you for the well wishes though!

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Just wondering, is there a way to know if a letter marked on OMSAS as "received" was actually received before the deadline? Right now I still have one outstanding letter, but all of mine were marked "received" after Oct 1st. I would really like to know if my letter has really not made it in or if they are just running behind...

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It really is ridiculous that they aren't extending the deadline; after putting in all that effort on the UofT essays, just for it to get tossed out because of something that isn't under my control or even my fault. I do have an e-mail from mid September where my referee confirms that they mailed out my letters. I told UofT, and I was just informed that they 'might take it into consideration'. Not much I can do at this point. I'm not even sure if I should resend another letter or wait it out. Thank you for the well wishes though!

When I was talking to OMSAS before when I was worried, they said to keep any proof (an example she mentioned was an email showing he/she said they were mailing it), I really feel like that should be sufficient proof because it also shows you/they did their due diligence to make sure the process was complete from your/their ends. Who did you talk to you at U of T? Rather than speak to the admin assistant, I would ask to speak/lv a message for the admissions officer as they may be able to actually make an exception or be in a position to have an exception considered, then when you talk to that person ask them to notate it in your file and also send you an email confirmation that you have communicated the situation with them and if they agree to include the letters, that too. Keeping something for your records and making sure theirs are properly documented will ensure that if for some ridiculous reason your app gets disqualified, you have something to return to help push you case again.

 

In terms of re-sending, definitely re-send because if they've lost the others, with your email, U of T may still consider your file, but without a letter, they can't do it right? So re-sending doesn't have any drawbacks. I wouldn't wait to see if the letter has truly been lost or not by the time their updates are over because by that time, your file may already be handed over to U of T. Good luck, I have my fingers crossed for you!

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My letter sent Aug 11th was marked as received as of 11:30EST this morning. This is one experience I will not forget. The last few days I have been quite anxious. Thank you to everyone on this forum, you guys have been so supportive- it really helped calm my nerves knowing that others' letters were received/sent on such and such date because I could see it was a bit random. My letters were all re-sent on Monday, I am assuming these updates are for my old letters but who honestly knows. It could be for the new ones sent too. They are within S.O. so 2 day delivery is possible but highly unlikely given it was regular mail.

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Just wondering, is there a way to know if a letter marked on OMSAS as "received" was actually received before the deadline? Right now I still have one outstanding letter, but all of mine were marked "received" after Oct 1st. I would really like to know if my letter has really not made it in or if they are just running behind...

Was your letter sent well in advance of the Oct 1st deadline, ie with enough time that it would have been likely to be received before the 1st? They stamp all the letters when they come in with the date of receipt so being on the system after Oct. 1st has nothing to do with the date the letter came in. Anyone who submitted/paid on Oct 1st would not have anything notated as received on the account until at the earliest, Oct. 2nd (this is like best case scenario, some lucky ones out there!), when payment would go through if using a credit card I believe. But the letters would still have been stamped with an earlier date.

 

You mention you have one outstanding letter- in that they don't have it in their system right, but you know it was sent? I was a little confused by what you meant  but if this is what you mean, no one can tell you if that letter is "lost" or if it's not there because they are running behind (which it very well could be) inc OMSAS but that's why some of us has our LORs re-sent. If you want to wait until later, they say they should be up to date by Oct. 16th so that would be the more conservative way to go but if you're really worried I don't see the harm in re-sending, it's what I and some others on here did!

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I spoke to OMSAS yesterday, and they said it is unlikely they received it and advised me to have the letter re-sent. My referee wrote a letter along with the copy of the form and reference letter saying this was the second time she submitted it and just found out it wasn't received. This was also upon the advice of the OMSAS person I spoke to. If you are re-sending your letters, have your referees submit a typed note that says it is the second attempt to submit the letter. Now going to email u of t with an explanation. So stupid - this really should be an electronic submission that is updated continuously, not after you submit your application. 

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I spoke to OMSAS yesterday, and they said it is unlikely they received it and advised me to have the letter re-sent. My referee wrote a letter along with the copy of the form and reference letter saying this was the second time she submitted it and just found out it wasn't received. This was also upon the advice of the OMSAS person I spoke to. If you are re-sending your letters, have your referees submit a typed note that says it is the second attempt to submit the letter. Now going to email u of t with an explanation. So stupid - this really should be an electronic submission that is updated continuously, not after you submit your application. 

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds like a very good idea to inc a letter that states that this is the second time they are sending. That would seem to be proof enough. Ridiculous. I don't know why they keep saying it wasn't received vs yeah, we don't know what we did with it because I don't think Canada Post could possibly have this many screw ups in such a short time with so many letters going to the same place. Keep us updated on when it shows as received.

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Hey guys, I talked to the UofT admissions officer today. I have some good news! If your reference letter was never received, you can get your referee to write a letter on official stationary telling UofT that they sent out the reference before Oct 01 (make sure to provide the date it was sent). This letter should be signed and then sent to UofT enrollment. I was told that this would clear up any problems associated with not getting all your references in. I was assured it would not affect your application in any way. Hope this helps.

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Thought I would contribute since I was checking this thread feverishly!

I had 1 reference left outstanding, it was sent approx. Sept 23rd and was finally marked received this afternoon!

 

Now my question is, since it was "received" today but is definitely postmarked for Sept 23rd, do you guys think I need to do anything extra to ensure that it's considered for U of T ?

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Thought I would contribute since I was checking this thread feverishly!

I had 1 reference left outstanding, it was sent approx. Sept 23rd and was finally marked received this afternoon!

 

Now my question is, since it was "received" today but is definitely postmarked for Sept 23rd, do you guys think I need to do anything extra to ensure that it's considered for U of T ?

No? I had a transcript signed for as delivered on Sept. 30th and it just got added to OMSAS today

I don't understand what you are asking though....if your doc is received, correct?

What would you be doing with U ofT? I'm pretty sure it's up to UofT what documents are considered by U of T, and if it was added to OMSAS, I wouldn't worry 

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Was your letter sent well in advance of the Oct 1st deadline, ie with enough time that it would have been likely to be received before the 1st? They stamp all the letters when they come in with the date of receipt so being on the system after Oct. 1st has nothing to do with the date the letter came in. Anyone who submitted/paid on Oct 1st would not have anything notated as received on the account until at the earliest, Oct. 2nd (this is like best case scenario, some lucky ones out there!), when payment would go through if using a credit card I believe. But the letters would still have been stamped with an earlier date.

 

You mention you have one outstanding letter- in that they don't have it in their system right, but you know it was sent? I was a little confused by what you meant  but if this is what you mean, no one can tell you if that letter is "lost" or if it's not there because they are running behind (which it very well could be) inc OMSAS but that's why some of us has our LORs re-sent. If you want to wait until later, they say they should be up to date by Oct. 16th so that would be the more conservative way to go but if you're really worried I don't see the harm in re-sending, it's what I and some others on here did!

 

Thanks. Ya thats what I meant; I had 1 LOR marked not yet received even though I knew it was sent well in advance of the deadline. Thankfully it's since been updated to received. So I'm assuming there is no way for us to confirm that the stuff was actually received by OMSAS prior to Oct 1st??

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Well, I don't know if they could tell you if you called them, I guess you could always try. But the way I would go about it is asking your reference if you don't already know when they sent it (but you prob do know right?) and then just counting up from there. So within province, post office tells me it's between 4-6 days (this never inc the day you mail something out, incase anyone was wondering). 6 is like really worst case, 4 is usually the standard. I guess if you're really borderline it would be hard to tell; however for the one sent on the 23rd, I would think it would be received. Perhaps OMSAS could actually tell you now that it has been attached to your file.

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I would be if it's not up by today. I think today is the deadline they gave themselves for getting everything on the system. Give them a call first and see if they can tell you anything with your OUAC reference number. They won't do it if they're busy but it's probably died down a bit. Once in a while, I've heard they might know it's waiting to be attached to your file but can tell you it's there. Anyway, most likely they'll just say to re-send. I definitely wouldn't wait regarding investigating on this. Good luck JJunior321, I know it's stressful!

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