Ok. I asked my AP Biology teacher a month and a half ago to write me a college recommendation letter for the four private colleges I’m applying to (Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, Johns Hopkins). He agreed. Over the course of a month, I’ve been checking up on my application status at Columbia’s online application and saw that my teacher still hadn’t submitted the letter yet. The day before winter break, I went to remind him.

I checked again every day since the beginning of winter break, and the letter still hasn’t been submitted. There should be NO waiting period between the time he submitted the letter to the time it’s registered in my status because all of the recommendations for Columbia are submitted online.

My question: Is there a chance that, when I get back from winter break and have a talk with my teacher, that his recommendation letter will still be accepted? Or am I royally screwed in my application because of one letter?