Submit Harvard app now—or wait for better letter?

gettingthereslowly

Hey folks. I'm planning to apply to Harvard, and I've finished the application and have my letters of recommendation already—two from professors, one from where I worked this summer. One of the letters, however, comes from a professor I've only known for a couple months, but my thesis reader, who I initially thought would be too busy to write me a letter, said that he'd love to write a recommendation, which he would have time to finish by early January. I know his letter will be superlative.

My numbers are not quite there for Harvard—I scored a 170 on the LSAT—so I worry that if I submit now, my letters won't be quite compelling enough to put me over the top. But if I submit later, will it be too late, given that Harvard does rolling admission?

My question here essentially boils down to this: What is the tradeoff between waiting until January and having a much better letter of recommendation vs. applying now with one of my three letters being adequate but not fantastic? How decisive are the letters?

Curious what your thoughts are. What would you do?

AllezAllez21

Great question! The answer is probably it depends. I am for sure not qualified to give you an answer with any precision, only based on information I have read and learned from decently credible sources.

Applying early January is certainly not late. It's by no means early but it's not going to auto eliminate you.

That being said, letters of recommendation are not usually decisive. A truly fantastic letter probably does give you a decent bump, but my guess is that it won't make or break you. It's hard to know. I am only guessing.

Harvard supposedly reads their applications by LSAT and GPA score, and because you're below both medians it's entirely possible your application wouldn't be read until January anyway...

LivingThatLSATdream

I'm not certain the impact that LORs will have on your admission decision, however, may I suggest speaking with your professor and relaying your concern about the delayed letter? I do understand professors get busy towards the end of semesters, but a month should be more than enough time to write a LOR, which would complete your application by mid-December. Perhaps if you had a compelling reason, such as submitting by an "early" admit deadline, submitting in time for a specific scholarship or program, or merely to increase your chances of acceptance, you could respectively ask your professor to complete the LOR before January. I taught at a university and would do anything in my power to complete a LOR by a requested timeframe. Sometimes students ask very last minute!