Reference showing up as not Processed/Received

[tsanami]

Hi all, as the title says, my reference is displayed as not processed/received on Minerva, despite my referee saying she submitted it on September 30th. It got submitted to OLSAS successfully, so I'm not sure what happened on the McGill end. Is a delay this long normal? Should I reach out to adcoms, even though they say they do "not confirm receipt of reference forms with the referee via email"?

[GreyDude]

 

6 hours ago, tsanami said:

Hi all, as the title says, my reference is displayed as not processed/received on Minerva, despite my referee saying she submitted it on September 30th. It got submitted to OLSAS successfully, so I'm not sure what happened on the McGill end. Is a delay this long normal? Should I reach out to adcoms, even though they say they do "not confirm receipt of reference forms with the referee via email"?

Ah, we spoke on the Discord server. Now I see the issue, I think: I didn't know you were applying to McGill!

McGill does not use OLSAS. It has its own reference form that the referees have to complete and send in by email. They have a web page you're supposed to send your referees to, where they can download the reference form, and which gives the information for completing and submitting it.

It's available here: https://www.mcgill.ca/law/instructions-applicant-referees. Could that be the problem? 

Edited October 11, 2021 by GreyDude

[tsanami]

1 hour ago, GreyDude said:

 

Ah, we spoke on the Discord server. Now I see the issue, I think: I didn't know you were applying to McGill!

McGill does not use OLSAS. It has its own reference form that the referees have to complete and send in by email. They have a web page you're supposed to send your referees to, where they can download the reference form, and which gives the information for completing and submitting it.

It's available here: https://www.mcgill.ca/law/instructions-applicant-referees. Could that be the problem? 

Hey! I am applying via Minerva and started the application there. I mentioned OLSAS to indicate that she definitely submitted the forms successfully there, so I know it's not an issue of her not submitting the materials or forgetting to do so. I probably should have clarified that, haha.

[GreyDude]

13 hours ago, tsanami said:

Hey! I am applying via Minerva and started the application there. I mentioned OLSAS to indicate that she definitely submitted the forms successfully there, so I know it's not an issue of her not submitting the materials or forgetting to do so. I probably should have clarified that, haha.

Ah. So I'd say to give it another couple of days and confirm with your Referee that it actually went to the correct address at McGill.  It has only been six business days, and while I would have expected it to show up sooner, too, who knows what's going on at McGill or how much traffic they're handling at the moment. Another thing to do might be to confirm that you have correctly entered the referee's name in Minerva, just in case. Has your other reference been received/processed? 

I'd only call the admissions folks if another week were to go by, personally, as frustrating as that would be, and only after the referee had confirmed that the email definitely went to the right place. Since the deadline is November 8th for supporting documents, you're still good for now. What matters is keeping it that way.

Now you have me thinking about my own references, which I'm pretty sure haven't been sent yet. 😅

Edited October 11, 2021 by GreyDude

[GreyDude]

On 10/11/2021 at 12:37 PM, GreyDude said:

Now you have me thinking about my own references, which I'm pretty sure haven't been sent yet. 😅

Just following up, one of my two referees told me on Friday that she had sent in the reference that afternoon, and it was showing as received on Minerva by the end of the same day. So I’m modifying my advice: if the reference is still not in, I think you should contact your referee ASAP to suggest that it be sent a second time, confirming the email address and the subject line (which has to have a particular format). It also might not be a bad thing to let the admissions folks know that you’re having this problem and confirm that this is the right course of action. 

I’m no expert on this stuff; I’m just another applicant. So yeah, I think you need to ask the actual experts, but what I just said is what I’m pretty sure I would do, now that I have this new information.  

I hope it works out!

Edited October 17, 2021 by GreyDude

[ZineZ]

1 hour ago, GreyDude said:

if the reference is still not in, I think you should contact your referee ASAP to suggest that it be sent a second time, confirming the email address and the subject line (which has to have a particular format). 

It also might not be a bad thing to let the admissions folks know that you’re having this problem and confirm that this is the right course of action. 
 

Agreed 100%. OP - contact your referee to ensure that they sent the documentation and then let the admissions folks know after. 

[GreyDude]

Interesting follow-up to this (well, interesting to me, anyway):  one of my referees took until the last minute to submit her LoR on my behalf, and in fact I received an email a few minutes ago in which she told me she was just about to send it off (she also showed me what she was sending. It’s goooood). 
 

Now the interesting part.  Because she was so late with it and I was feeling nervous, I wrote this afternoon to the always helpful admissions office at McGill to confirm that the deadline was midnight and not end of business on Monday November 8. They responded to my email within four minutes to confirm that the deadline was at 23h59, but then added that if (as I had mentioned) the only thing missing was a reference, they could also arrange for an extension on the deadline. 

So at McGill at least, if a referee really craps out or forgets or whatever, one can still notify the admissions office and get a little more time after the deadline. I can’t say how much time, and I would never encourage anyone to operate in function of this, but it’s a very good thing to know, for extreme situations like the one that I have, happily, avoided. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by GreyDude
Accuracy. Also, grammar and spelling are part of the mark.