Eek! Your application is incomplete!

If you've been eagerly checking your application status and wondering what to do about it being marked "incomplete" despite all available credentials being sent, don't worry just yet. At this time of year, we are working as quickly as possible to open, scan, and index all the mail that is coming into our offices. Here are a few scenarios:

Everything is in except my mid-year grades. My school doesn't have those yet!
Mid-year grades aren't due until February 15th. If all of your documents are in and the mid-year report is the only thing left on your to-do list, don't worry. We will move forward with your application for now, but expect a mid-year report will be sent as soon as it is available. Make sure your counselor has the mid-year report form, which can be found on the Common App website.

My credentials were sent weeks ago and I just logged in for the first time to see that they aren't there!
In this case, your credentials are probably here and not linked to your file because your application hasn't been processed yet. Credentials that arrive for students who haven't submitted applications yet are scanned into our imaging system and filed in a miscellaneous credentials "drawer". When applications are received from Common App, a staff member goes through the miscellaneous drawer to find credentials that need to be "linked" to that application. At this time of year, we get many applications each night (there is a nightly transfer from Common App that gives us all applications submitted that day). Our staff is small and works as quickly as possible to process and link as many applications as possible each day. Obviously, as the deadline draws closer, the number of submitted applications goes up (sometimes over 1,000 applications come in at a time).


My application was submitted weeks ago and I know my counselor sent credentials before the deadline!
In this case, your credentials are probably in a mail bin, waiting to be opened. To give you a sense of how much mail is coming in, on January 2nd, we were opening mail that was delivered on December 15th. Once mail is opened, each document is scanned into the system and linked to an application. You may not see a change in your status for 2-3 weeks because so many documents arrive in the days around the deadline.

I took these pictures on January 2nd:

One of the stacks from DHL

Don't worry! We aren't going to penalize you if your credentials aren't checked in for a few weeks.


If this entry hasn't made you feel better, perhaps some peaceful pictures of CavDog will help.