I am FREAKING OUT!!!

[Dr.Inviz]

I just heard back from my premed advisor that she may not have my composite letter in by the extended deadline for UASOM (Nov. 29th). It was because of my advisor that I had to request an extension in the 1st place as I was complete in terms of secondary, picture, payment, and 2 personal LORs. I emailed UASOM just now asking for any advice on this matter. What am I to do?? I feel like I want to hound my advisor for the completion of the composite letter; however, I also feel that my advisor may very well screw me over by writing a poor composite letter. I am also applying to some DO schools and she said that I need not worry about the DO schools because their deadlines are usually by Dec. or Janurary ... I was like, are you kidding me?? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!

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[mintendo]

Just don't use the composite letter. Use the individual letters and then explain to the school why you chose to not use the composite letter (missing the deadline sounds like a legit reason).

 

[Dr.Inviz]

Just don't use the composite letter. Use the individual letters and then explain to the school why you chose to not use the composite letter (missing the deadline sounds like a legit reason).

Yes, but my premed advisor ALSO HAS the individual 3 LORs from my professors ... do you think it would be difficult to attain the LORs from my advisor?

 

[Senor Fish]

At this point, your advisor should be willing to work with you to send out those 3 individual letters to your schools. If they don't do that, that would be totally f**ked up. I would get those individual letters out as soon as possible.

Sounds stressful- hang in there.

SF

 

[leahmaria]

I would be freaking out too. If your advisor can't get the individual letters out, have the professors who wrote them send them in themselves.

 

[chester1000]

Hi, I'm wondering about your first deadline extension. UASOM says they haven't received one of my personal letters even though the tracking says it was delivered over a month ago and they told me to request a deadline extension via email. Is that what you had to do too? Good luck getting the letters all sorted out. It seems like schools should be flexible with that. It's out of our control.

 

[berkshiredoc]

If the composite letter is late solely because of the pre-med adviser (ie, you did absolutely everything your school asks within the recommended time frames, nothing was turned in late or requested late on your part) then I would go over her head. Everyone is worried about upsetting their pre-med advisor, but the school has an obligation not to screw up and hurt your chances. I would discuss the situation with the Dean of Students or equivalent at your school.

 

[Tyronebiggums]

Just another reason why pre-med advisors should not be expected to recommend anyone. Pre-med advisors are almost always not doctors, professors or even failed former medical school students, so why should their recommendation be valuable? I guess because the composite letter allows a school to save time reading all the LOR's is the only reason for pre-med advisors. Pre-med advisors should only give advice to people who seek it and nothing else.

 

[DoctorMom78]

Poor Dr.Inviz!!! Now I feel really bad that everyone beat you up about DCOM! Anyway, my pre-med advisor dragged his feet too, but I applied this summer so it didn't hurt me that much. I think you should definitely do the individual letters and have them sent ASAP. If they were already written, it shouldn't take that long.

 

[Dr.Inviz]

Hi, I'm wondering about your first deadline extension. UASOM says they haven't received one of my personal letters even though the tracking says it was delivered over a month ago and they told me to request a deadline extension via email. Is that what you had to do too? Good luck getting the letters all sorted out. It seems like schools should be flexible with that. It's out of our control.

Yes, my premed advisor had suggested that I email UASOM ([email protected]) and request an extension BEFORE the deadline for the secondaries (which was Nov. 15 -- however, you may still try and wish for an extension, ideally they would because honestly its not about them, its about us, the applicants and heck, they could grant us extensions all the way down to next year and likely med schools wouldnt care -- sorry, im bitter right now). Anyways, I have been all but clear by the 15th because the composite letter is still missing and had not been turned in. I kept checking over and over during the break and it kept saying it wasnt in yet, now I know why ... I almost broke down. I am also applying to some DO schools and my advisor told me that DO schools have deadlines like in Dec. and Jan. so its not a problem ... my only reaction was, "are you freakin kiddin me??" (of course, i didnt say that), but I still want all my committee letters in well before the deadlines to be cleared and secure interview seats in the schools that wish to grant me an interview ... and to think, i stood a chance ... I guess tomorrow I will have to do something, and my advisor may hate me for it

BTW, thanks DoctorMom, you were definitely good to go to be complete early, wish I had been but my personal statement sucked so badly for the longest time. I seriously wonder if I will get a chance at ANY school with this cavalier demeanor my advisor seemingly has ...

 

[MattD]

Hey! If I were you I'd just call the admissions office and ask for their advice. Your advisor should be willing to mail those letters directly to the school, overnight them even, if you had your side of things done in a reasonable time frame. What school do you go to, if you don't mind me asking Are you instate? The people here at UAB don't suck, if you ask their advice they'll do everything they can to be helpful!

 

[Dr.Inviz]

Matt,

Firstly, I never said UAB sucked, why would/should I say that?? I dont like it when people take words out of context or just make things up ... (sorry, it happened before, excuse me if im a lil bitter). Yes, im instate -- from Alabama. I did send an email to the medical school prior to posting on here, and I have not received a reply yet -- however, i do know UASOM replies to emails within a reasonable manner from experience.

And by a reasonable timeframe, I was complete with my secondary application by the 6th or 7th of Nov. (received secondary on the 2nd) ... and the personal LORs were complete and in by the 15th -- the original deadline.

 

[psipsina]

I agree with a previous poster that if you had all your stuff into the premed advisors office ontime, and they are slacking, to go over their heads. Schools care alot about the %of their students who apply and get in, and would not be happy to know that one of their employees may be impeding the chances of a student to be in that list of applied and accepted students. My premed advisor coordinated getting my composite letter etc from another school to resubmit to katrina effected schools from Texas because her office in New Orleans was flooded and all the records were lost . . . talk about going above and beyond, your advisor should at least be able to submit your letter in a timely fashion.

 

[MattD]

Matt,

Firstly, I never said UAB sucked, why would/should I say that?? I dont like it when people take words out of context or just make things up ... (sorry, it happened before, excuse me if im a lil bitter). Yes, im instate -- from Alabama. I did send an email to the medical school prior to posting on here, and I have not received a reply yet -- however, i do know UASOM replies to emails within a reasonable manner from experience.

And by a reasonable timeframe, I was complete with my secondary application by the 6th or 7th of Nov. (received secondary on the 2nd) ... and the personal LORs were complete and in by the 15th -- the original deadline.

Whoa bud, relax. I didn't put any words in your mouth. By saying "the people here at UAB don't suck, they'll be helpful" I was saying "the people here at UAB are really nice, they'll be helpful". I don't think what I said was in any way accusatory towards you, I was simply attempting to be reassuring and encourage you to interact with the people at UAB, as I know many people are intimidated by the admissions process and might be apprehensive about bugging them. They're nice people, etc.

I also wasn't accusing you of tardiness, I was assuming you had everything in on time and saying that your advisor should release those letters.

 

[Cirrus83]

I guess I'll just take this time to say that you should always try to hand in your pre-med advisor stuff EARLY. I know at my school at least,they write it in the order that they received them, so even if you're in before the due date you could very well be stuck at the end of the line.

I thought mine took a while to come in, but damn...I feel bad for you. (even if he turned it in late it still sucks)

Worst case...you get a year off!

 

[Dr.Inviz]

it all stemmed from my 3rd professor taking forever to submit his LOR. im hating my life right now

 

[MattD]

.

 

[gotmeds?]

Relax. Just get the LOR packet sent in and then send the composite letter as an addendum. Every school I applied to counted the LOR packet as a "committee letter" when they received it. The actual committee letter got sent a couple pf months after my applications (I had basically the same problem you did).

 

[DoctorMom78]

Matt,

Firstly, I never said UAB sucked, why would/should I say that?? I dont like it when people take words out of context or just make things up ... (sorry, it happened before, excuse me if im a lil bitter). Yes, im instate -- from Alabama. I did send an email to the medical school prior to posting on here, and I have not received a reply yet -- however, i do know UASOM replies to emails within a reasonable manner from experience.

And by a reasonable timeframe, I was complete with my secondary application by the 6th or 7th of Nov. (received secondary on the 2nd) ... and the personal LORs were complete and in by the 15th -- the original deadline.

LOL! You are really getting ganged up on. Maybe next time you should just PM me or someone else for advice. LOL! Anyway, I think it is ludicrous that the advisor can't rush and get the letters in. I would do the individual letters and file a complaint to the proper people about her actions (or lack there of). I hope things turn around for you soon!

 

[MattD]

LOL! You are really getting ganged up on. Maybe next time you should just PM me or someone else for advice. LOL! Anyway, I think it is ludicrous that the advisor can't rush and get the letters in. I would do the individual letters and file a complaint to the proper people about her actions (or lack there of). I hope things turn around for you soon!

Ganged up on? I was trying to be helpful. For some reason, I then proceeded to APOLOGIZE for not being helpful clearly enough. I've never been anything but helpful with people around here, especially with those who are interested in UAB. But you're right, if someone only wants advice from a particular person, they should use a PM. If they ask an open question, they'll get answers from anyone who wants to try to help. There's no reason to go all paranoid 'the anonymous internet posters are being mean to me' over a genuine attempt to offer advice. So, and for the last time, I apologize for giving advice that was requested. I will from now on only give unrequested advice, so that people will at least have a reason to be annoyed with me

For the record, OP, good luck with your applications, and I hope to see you at UAB if that's where you'd like to go.

 

[Dr.Inviz]

Ganged up on? I was trying to be helpful. For some reason, I then proceeded to APOLOGIZE for not being helpful clearly enough. I've never been anything but helpful with people around here, especially with those who are interested in UAB. But you're right, if someone only wants advice from a particular person, they should use a PM. If they ask an open question, they'll get answers from anyone who wants to try to help. There's no reason to go all paranoid 'the anonymous internet posters are being mean to me' over a genuine attempt to offer advice. So, and for the last time, I apologize for giving advice that was requested. I will from now on only give unrequested advice, so that people will at least have a reason to be annoyed with me

For the record, OP, good luck with your applications, and I hope to see you at UAB if that's where you'd like to go.

Matt,

No, its cool. It's appreciated. Luckily I got an email from my advisor saying the composite will be sent to UASOM in person on the 29th and that the composite letters were sent out to the other schools today. Ahh, I hate how it had to take THAT long and the fact that the advisor totally scared me to death. I was honestly gonna take y'all's advice and just force the individual 3 LORs to be sent off to the schools and be done with it until I saw the email from my advisor. Scary. UASOM did not email me back ... which scared me too, until I saw that email from my advisor. Hopefully it all works out and im cleared for UASOM. Or I will personally go . On a brighter note, I did receive an interview invite from Nova Southeastern, so atleast there's one interview. Hopefully I get UASOM's invite as well! I really want to stay in-state for medical school if I can help it ... but if not, it's cool too I guess.

 

[DoctorMom78]

Ganged up on? I was trying to be helpful. For some reason, I then proceeded to APOLOGIZE for not being helpful clearly enough. I've never been anything but helpful with people around here, especially with those who are interested in UAB. But you're right, if someone only wants advice from a particular person, they should use a PM. If they ask an open question, they'll get answers from anyone who wants to try to help. There's no reason to go all paranoid 'the anonymous internet posters are being mean to me' over a genuine attempt to offer advice. So, and for the last time, I apologize for giving advice that was requested. I will from now on only give unrequested advice, so that people will at least have a reason to be annoyed with me

For the record, OP, good luck with your applications, and I hope to see you at UAB if that's where you'd like to go.

LOL! It just seems that every time you post something, someone gets mad. I know you were trying to be helpful and have only been trying to express your opinion, but everyone seems to be misunderstanding you. It is a rather odd phenomenon . Oh well, it looks like things are getting better for you now at least. Congratulations and good luck on your interview! I hope everything works out for you.

 

[MattD]

Ha! Hopefully there will be no interviews for about 3 years, if there are something seriously bad has happened.

Inviz, good deal, I'm glad things got worked out. Being at the start of a biochem and genetics test marathon, I find it hard to encourage you in your med school pursuits, but if you insist on flogging yourself in such a manner, UAB's a cool place to do it Although you WILL be the guinea pig class for their new curriculum, since we managed to dodge that bullet. Should be fun though!