Better late than never?

Today I heard back from the absent-minded prof I asked to write a recommendation for that fellowship. He was very apologetic (my request had fallen victim to an inbox avalanche) and asked if it was too late. I suppose that's a legitimate question, even though it is obviously 2 weeks past the date I requested to have it by. The NSF fellowship, for instance, has a December deadline for recommendations, but doesn't really care as long as they have them by February. So tardiness is sometimes sanctioned, though not really in this case, although CalFed did give me an extra 5 days. Still, it was nice of him to email me and check. It shows that my quest for funding isn't too insignificant for his time. Perhaps I wouldn't be feeling so benevolent towards him if I hadn't been able to scrape up a rec from my undergraduate advisor, but who knows. Perhaps if I hadn't I'd still be able to squeak in a letter from him; 2 weeks really isn't such a long time. (Although they plan to announce awards in July, which is extremely quick turn-around for a fellowship application!)

Anyway. All's well that ends well is still true for this chapter of fellowship applications. We still have to wait till July for the real conclusion. I do wonder why they were so intent on having a complete application from me. Personally, I'm of the "less is more" school of thought, so as a reviewer I'd be thrilled to have one fewer item to read. My hope is that they had so few applications that they don't want to have to devalue one for something as trivial as a missing letter. Because in that case, fingers crossed, I might actually have a chance! And I'm perfectly fine with that. I once won 3rd place in some spanish competition because there were only 3 people in my area. Worked for me! I got a ribbon and everything. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being last when last is still good enough to get you something!