*~*~*~*Official Letters of Recommendation Questions Thread 2012-2013*~*~*~*

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Okay so someone please help me!
I have created a "letter form" and given it to my advisor (he is writing one of the letters). But he keeps saying that AMCAS has not notified him to submit a letter yet. Does AMCAS do this??? I thought I just had to create a letter form and then that person can submit their letter. Is this right??

Thanks,
Hopeful101

He can send it in whenever he wants... I don't think AMCAS will notify him. Make sure he labels it with your AMCAS and Letter ID's so they know how to sort it out.

I would recommend he send it to an Interfolio account or to your school's letter service, instead. The advantage of this is that they'll be able to keep the letter for longer than a year if you do need to reapply next year.

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Dilemma here! My committee requires 5 letters before reviewing our applications. 4 are in, one was supposed to be in two weeks ago and the professor hasn't gotten back to me since (several emails sent trying to reach out/remind the professor). Anyone have a way to get the professor to send their letter in?
 
I asked one of the doctors at work for a LOR, and he asked me to write one first, saying "no one knows you better than yourself". Then he'd change it up and add more things, and mail it out.

Any tips/advice for writing my own LOR? :confused:

Two things to remember in your own lor is that you can't tell them how perfect you are, and you need to keep it in context. A doctor you work for would not know of your academic prowess and couldn't speak to it. So keep it contextual.

Another thing is that you should point out a couple areas you need to work on. No one is perfect, and admissions will place greater confidence in a letter that has some vinegar to go with all that honey. Not too much, just enough to be believable. Better yet, make them things that you struggled with initially but are improving. Again, keep it contextual.

If you want me to take a look at a draft pm me.
 
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Dilemma here! My committee requires 5 letters before reviewing our applications. 4 are in, one was supposed to be in two weeks ago and the professor hasn't gotten back to me since (several emails sent trying to reach out/remind the professor). Anyone have a way to get the professor to send their letter in?

Ask him in person.
 
Even if he has no office hours? I wasn't sure if stopping by uninvited would be too aggressive.
 
Even if he has no office hours? I wasn't sure if stopping by uninvited would be too aggressive.

I would think sending him several reminder emails might be aggressive. Just stop by, nicely ask how his semester is wrapping up and then check if he had a chance to write it. No need to accost, but there is value in human contact
 
Do you all feel that 2 science professors is pretty much mandatory, even if the specific schools don't list it as being a requirement? Most of the schools I'm applying to only require at least 1 science and 1 non-science (only one school requires 2 science 1 non according to their admissions websites). At the moment I only have 1 science and 1 non-science recommendation (and others from research, ECs). The two that I have should be strong, and if I went looking for another it'd probably be weaker than the two that I have. Thoughts?

Anyone have experience with this kind of situation? Thanks!
 
They're not stupid... they'll know it came from you instead of from your doctor.

It's not my own doctor, and he's just using this as a basis to tell him more about myself. It's not like I'm writing it and then he's just signing off on it.

Why would you bother posting if you couldn't answer my question?

Two things to remember in your own lor is that you can't tell them how perfect you are, and you need to keep it in context. A doctor you work for would not know of your academic prowess and couldn't speak to it. So keep it contextual.

Another thing is that you should point out a couple areas you need to work on. No one is perfect, and admissions will place greater confidence in a letter that has some vinegar to go with all that honey. Not too much, just enough to be believable. Better yet, make them things that you struggled with initially but are improving. Again, keep it contextual.

If you want me to take a look at a draft pm me.

In terms of keeping it contextual, he's a doc I work with as a scribe. So I will definitely focus more on the clinic experiences and how he's taught me a lot and walked me through patient cases, but any tips for "areas of improvement" you mentioned? He doesn't know me outside of work.
 
Do you all feel that 2 science professors is pretty much mandatory, even if the specific schools don't list it as being a requirement? Most of the schools I'm applying to only require at least 1 science and 1 non-science (only one school requires 2 science 1 non according to their admissions websites). At the moment I only have 1 science and 1 non-science recommendation (and others from research, ECs). The two that I have should be strong, and if I went looking for another it'd probably be weaker than the two that I have. Thoughts?
It may be possible to skate by with one science prof, one non-science prof, AND a research prof from the basic sciences even if you didn't take classes from him (as some schools consider that a science prof). To be safe, I would see if you can get another science letter from someone you took a class from and send it in to AMCAS but don't assign it to any schools. If a school complains that you didn't meet their requirement, you can send it on to them really quick and hopefully not delay your application much. Just my $0.02
 
2 questions:

1. I'm considering asking a science prof of a post-bac class I'm currently in for a LOR. However, she is not a phd. Is this something I should be concerned about?

2. To satisfy the non-science LOR requirement, I would be forced to ask a prof that I haven't seen in 3 years. I recall being pretty active in the class at the time, but obviously enough time has passed that I can't be sure he would remember me. Should I give this a shot even though the letter would probably be generic, simply to cover my bases? To be honest, I'm a little freaked out that I'll look like an idiot asking someone who might not remember who I am.

Any advice is much appreciated.
 
It may be possible to skate by with one science prof, one non-science prof, AND a research prof from the basic sciences even if you didn't take classes from him (as some schools consider that a science prof). To be safe, I would see if you can get another science letter from someone you took a class from and send it in to AMCAS but don't assign it to any schools. If a school complains that you didn't meet their requirement, you can send it on to them really quick and hopefully not delay your application much. Just my $0.02

Hmm that sounds like a good idea - my concern, however, would be that the schools would stay "silent" about the issue rather than notify me and overlook my application that way. If the schools wanted another science LOR, are chances pretty high that they would actually let me know in a reasonable amount of time?
 
2 questions:

1. I'm considering asking a science prof of a post-bac class I'm currently in for a LOR. However, she is not a phd. Is this something I should be concerned about?

2. To satisfy the non-science LOR requirement, I would be forced to ask a prof that I haven't seen in 3 years. I recall being pretty active in the class at the time, but obviously enough time has passed that I can't be sure he would remember me. Should I give this a shot even though the letter would probably be generic, simply to cover my bases? To be honest, I'm a little freaked out that I'll look like an idiot asking someone who might not remember who I am.

Any advice is much appreciated.

1. While PhD is ideal, having a letter that comes from a person with a lot of experience teaching and knows you very well will still adequately do the job. If that is your only option, I wouldn't sweat it. If they have only been teaching for a couple years though, that's a different story, as their recommendation doesn't have the same weight as someone who has been in academics for a long time and can speak in perspective in regards to you.

2. If not getting that letter prevents you from applying to schools you want to apply to, then you need to at least try to get it. Three years is a long time, so I would preface your e-mail with reminders and small details of the class to jog memory, and then explain your situation. Ask kindly but do not make it seem like you are desperate for it - you don't want to pressure the person and make them feel uncomfortable. If you are worried over its content, consider only sending it to schools that require this letter.
 
Not sure if this has been asked earlier in this thread.

Is it true that for this cycle we only need two letters of recommendation for TMDSAS? My adviser told me this is what's happening, but I don't want to get burnt.
 
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1. While PhD is ideal, having a letter that comes from a person with a lot of experience teaching and knows you very well will still adequately do the job. If that is your only option, I wouldn't sweat it. If they have only been teaching for a couple years though, that's a different story, as their recommendation doesn't have the same weight as someone who has been in academics for a long time and can speak in perspective in regards to you.

Is it okay to have a letter from a PhD professor that I had for one of the post-bac prerequisite lab courses? I hope so, because that's one of my two science letters. At the place where I did the post-bac, the labs are run by PhD professors (who also teach other lectures on top of teaching some of the labs). We don't have TA's. The other letter I have is from the bio I lecture prof so I assume that one has no issues.
 
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One more question that I thought of:

I do not have a committee letter. I know that the merits/benefits of having one have been discussed on here ad nauseum. My reason for lacking a committee letter is not because I was turned down for one due to a poor academic record (although I do have some bad grades from 8 years ago to make up for), but it is a direct result of the fact that I am a non-traditional applicant, more than 5 years removed from my bachelor's degree. I took no science pre-reqs at my B.A.-granting institution and so after inquiring with the premed committee at that school as to whether they would write me a letter, they promptly refused, saying that I hadn't taken any of the required courses for medical school at their institution. Additionally, I am unable to get a science pre-req from the place where I completed my post-bac, because it was an informal post-bac that I set up myself. I was technically in the biochemistry bachelor's degree program during the post-bac so that I could qualify for some federal loans, and because I hadn't completed even half of the credits required to graduate with that degree, I wasn't allowed to apply for one. Thedeadline for requesting one was back in February, anyway.

After perusing some of the various school websites today, I see that many of them say that they prefer a committee letter, but if one is unavailable, then two letters from science profs and one from a non-science prof will suffice.The wording is ambiguous -- yes, my committee letter is unavailable, but the two schools I have attended do issue them, I'm just ineligible. I do have my two science and one non-science letters, but I'm wondering how I should deal with this. Some schools make it easier for me, I guess. They say on their websites that if your school issues committee letters, and you cannot get one, then you should send them an explanation as to why you cannot get one. My question for this is does this mean that I should go school by school and send 30 or 40 e-mails after going complete to explain why I don't have a committee letter? I was thinking that I could just put a paragraph about it on each secondary application, but I don't know if that would be frowned upon. If it's correct to just send an individual e-mail to each school explaining the situation then I will do that.

Will this kill my app in and of itself?
 
Once a LOR on interfolio is received (I got notified by email), when and how should I thank my writer?

thanks
 
Once a LOR on interfolio is received (I got notified by email), when and how should I thank my writer?

thanks

At the very least, you can mail to them a thank you card. If you know the writer very well, maybe you'd consider writing a hand-written note.
 
Since I am an Intefolio user, my letters are all being collected at this service, however, after reading the guidelines for AAMC, it says my profs/docs/PI need to submit my letter including the AMCAS letter number and AMCAS ID...

I was told that Interfolio should take care of that info for you, but I want to be certain and hear this from more people. I have already received the bulk of my letters without my AMCAS ID nor letter number on it. They all have letterheads, signatures, and my name on them, but after reading the AAMC guidelines, I am slightly worried that I may have to ask the authors of my letters to resubmit with the proper AAMC number and my ID. I am also using these same letters for AACOMAS and TMDSAS, and both of these do not need any additional infomation.
 
Since I am an Intefolio user, my letters are all being collected at this service, however, after reading the guidelines for AAMC, it says my profs/docs/PI need to submit my letter including the AMCAS letter number and AMCAS ID...

I was told that Interfolio should take care of that info for you, but I want to be certain and hear this from more people. I have already received the bulk of my letters without my AMCAS ID nor letter number on it. They all have letterheads, signatures, and my name on them, but after reading the AAMC guidelines, I am slightly worried that I may have to ask the authors of my letters to resubmit with the proper AAMC number and my ID. I am also using these same letters for AACOMAS and TMDSAS, and both of these do not need any additional infomation.
Merging.

Yes, all you need to do is get your LOR to Interfolio. When you are sending the letters to AMCAS you will input information so they are attached to the right file
 
When listing contact numbers and stuff, should we list university address and phone number, or personal? I only know professional information.

If I'm going for MD/PhD, should I separate the PI's letters from my committee letter?
 
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When listing contact numbers and stuff, should we list university address and phone number, or personal? I only know professional information.

If I'm going for MD/PhD, should I separate the PI's letters from my committee letter?

I entered in professional (university) contact information. If I were a faculty member, I wouldn't want schools calling me at my personal number asking about a LOR.

If it costs the same (for me, it does), I'd separate all of my letters. It gives you additional flexibility when sending LOR's to each medical school.
 
If it costs the same (for me, it does), I'd separate all of my letters. It gives you additional flexibility when sending LOR's to each medical school.
I have 12. Not sure if I should flex them out, not sure which to committee, not sure about anything besides the non-school ones. Obviously I'm going to include my dean's letter in a committee but I dunno how this **** works. My thought was, and I said this to sector:

My THOUGHT was committee letters take all the school letters and distill what they say, attaching the "best" of the ones submitted. For me, depending if MD/PhD or not, it would be Dr. R and Dr. S labs, Dean, Dr. M clinical, and whoever else at that point. I hope that's how a committee letter works. So I'd just end up mailing four out regardless, to be honest. If MD/PhD, I would separate all the four labs, giving me a total of 8.
 
I have 12. Not sure if I should flex them out, not sure which to committee, not sure about anything besides the non-school ones. Obviously I'm going to include my dean's letter in a committee but I dunno how this **** works. My thought was, and I said this to sector:

My THOUGHT was committee letters take all the school letters and distill what they say, attaching the "best" of the ones submitted. For me, depending if MD/PhD or not, it would be Dr. R and Dr. S labs, Dean, Dr. M clinical, and whoever else at that point. I hope that's how a committee letter works. So I'd just end up mailing four out regardless, to be honest. If MD/PhD, I would separate all the four labs, giving me a total of 8.

Wow...

I don't think ALL committee letters actually attach the best of the ones submitted, so yes, I'd definitely submit the "best" ones with the committee letter.

I'd also caution against sending 8 letters to MD/PhD programs. Some of them might not even read all 8 letters. Some schools definitely have a cap on how many they'll take into consideration.
 
If I take a class taught by three different professors, is it a problem to get both of my science LORs from two of those professors. One of them knows me outside of that class and has already agreed. I was planning to ask the TA write one and have it co-signed by one of the other professors.
 
Is it okay to have a letter from a PhD professor that I had for one of the post-bac prerequisite lab courses? I hope so, because that's one of my two science letters. At the place where I did the post-bac, the labs are run by PhD professors (who also teach other lectures on top of teaching some of the labs). We don't have TA's. The other letter I have is from the bio I lecture prof so I assume that one has no issues.

Any advice appreciated.
 
One more question that I thought of:

I do not have a committee letter. I know that the merits/benefits of having one have been discussed on here ad nauseum. My reason for lacking a committee letter is not because I was turned down for one due to a poor academic record (although I do have some bad grades from 8 years ago to make up for), but it is a direct result of the fact that I am a non-traditional applicant, more than 5 years removed from my bachelor's degree. I took no science pre-reqs at my B.A.-granting institution and so after inquiring with the premed committee at that school as to whether they would write me a letter, they promptly refused, saying that I hadn't taken any of the required courses for medical school at their institution. Additionally, I am unable to get a science pre-req from the place where I completed my post-bac, because it was an informal post-bac that I set up myself. I was technically in the biochemistry bachelor's degree program during the post-bac so that I could qualify for some federal loans, and because I hadn't completed even half of the credits required to graduate with that degree, I wasn't allowed to apply for one. Thedeadline for requesting one was back in February, anyway.

After perusing some of the various school websites today, I see that many of them say that they prefer a committee letter, but if one is unavailable, then two letters from science profs and one from a non-science prof will suffice.The wording is ambiguous -- yes, my committee letter is unavailable, but the two schools I have attended do issue them, I'm just ineligible. I do have my two science and one non-science letters, but I'm wondering how I should deal with this. Some schools make it easier for me, I guess. They say on their websites that if your school issues committee letters, and you cannot get one, then you should send them an explanation as to why you cannot get one. My question for this is does this mean that I should go school by school and send 30 or 40 e-mails after going complete to explain why I don't have a committee letter? I was thinking that I could just put a paragraph about it on each secondary application, but I don't know if that would be frowned upon. If it's correct to just send an individual e-mail to each school explaining the situation then I will do that.

Will this kill my app in and of itself?

Any advice appreciated.
 
Thanks, Sector9. I did some looking around on Interfolio and found the account information and that each letter could be submitted with their respective ID numbers along with my own AAMC/AACOMAS/TMDSAS IDs
 
Is it okay to have a letter from a PhD professor that I had for one of the post-bac prerequisite lab courses? I hope so, because that's one of my two science letters. At the place where I did the post-bac, the labs are run by PhD professors (who also teach other lectures on top of teaching some of the labs). We don't have TA's. The other letter I have is from the bio I lecture prof so I assume that one has no issues.
I don't see the problem here. Are you worried that it was a lab class instead of a lecture class? It sounds fine to me
 
One more question that I thought of:

I do not have a committee letter. I know that the merits/benefits of having one have been discussed on here ad nauseum. My reason for lacking a committee letter is not because I was turned down for one due to a poor academic record (although I do have some bad grades from 8 years ago to make up for), but it is a direct result of the fact that I am a non-traditional applicant, more than 5 years removed from my bachelor's degree. I took no science pre-reqs at my B.A.-granting institution and so after inquiring with the premed committee at that school as to whether they would write me a letter, they promptly refused, saying that I hadn't taken any of the required courses for medical school at their institution. Additionally, I am unable to get a science pre-req from the place where I completed my post-bac, because it was an informal post-bac that I set up myself. I was technically in the biochemistry bachelor's degree program during the post-bac so that I could qualify for some federal loans, and because I hadn't completed even half of the credits required to graduate with that degree, I wasn't allowed to apply for one. Thedeadline for requesting one was back in February, anyway.

After perusing some of the various school websites today, I see that many of them say that they prefer a committee letter, but if one is unavailable, then two letters from science profs and one from a non-science prof will suffice.The wording is ambiguous -- yes, my committee letter is unavailable, but the two schools I have attended do issue them, I'm just ineligible. I do have my two science and one non-science letters, but I'm wondering how I should deal with this. Some schools make it easier for me, I guess. They say on their websites that if your school issues committee letters, and you cannot get one, then you should send them an explanation as to why you cannot get one. My question for this is does this mean that I should go school by school and send 30 or 40 e-mails after going complete to explain why I don't have a committee letter? I was thinking that I could just put a paragraph about it on each secondary application, but I don't know if that would be frowned upon. If it's correct to just send an individual e-mail to each school explaining the situation then I will do that.

Will this kill my app in and of itself?
Don't bring it up unless asked. Some schools will ask in their secondary so focus on being a nontrad not that your academic performance was too poor to receive one. I wouldn't go out of my way to explain it
 
I saw in the FAQ that you can assign letters even after you submit your primary app.

1. Does this mean that the deadline I should give me letter writers is June 29 (when AMCAS starts transmitting stuff to schools)?

2. Do schools receive letters with the primary app or can I turn it in when I submit my secondary?
 
I saw in the FAQ that you can assign letters even after you submit your primary app.

1. Does this mean that the deadline I should give me letter writers is June 29 (when AMCAS starts transmitting stuff to schools)?

2. Do schools receive letters with the primary app or can I turn it in when I submit my secondary?
1. That's fine. It's not necessary to have them in by June 29 but you do want to give your letter writers a deadline

2. They receive the letters whenever you send them (after June 29 of course). However, the school isn't going to be looking at them until you turn in your secondary so they don't require them to be turned in until then. The LORs are part of your secondary application despite being on AMCAS
 
Don't bring it up unless asked. Some schools will ask in their secondary so focus on being a nontrad not that your academic performance was too poor to receive one. I wouldn't go out of my way to explain it

Thanks for the response. Just want to clarify that my poor performance was not the reason that I'm ineligible for a committee LOR at both places, but I assume your advice is still the same? If the secondary asks for it then answer it why (because I'm a nontrad), but if not, then don't bring it up? I just don't want schools to reject me for the lack of a committee letter without inquiring as to the reasons why I lack it. I guess that seems unlikely? Hopefully they can figure out the reason once they see my grade report and note that there are grades from 10 years ago on there.

sector9 said:
I don't see the problem here. Are you worried that it was a lab class instead of a lecture class? It sounds fine to me

Yeah, that was my concern, that it was from a lab prof (although she is a PhD) rather than a lecture prof. Sounds like it doesn't matter though. The other science LOR is from a bio lecture prof.
 
Physics professor that I have had for both Physics I and II or Organic Chemistry professor that I have had for Organic II and Organic Lab?

A's have been earned in all aforementioned courses.
 
well from your lack of details it would really go either way.



physics.
 
I did better in both Physics than in both Organics. However, if I were to compare how "close" I was with each professor, the Organic one would win out. Should this change anything?
 
I did better in both Physics than in both Organics. However, if I were to compare how "close" I was with each professor, the Organic one would win out. Should this change anything?



yeah if you were just a face in the crowd you'll obviously get a generic crap LOR.


Go without whoever knows you better.
 
I did better in both Physics than in both Organics. However, if I were to compare how "close" I was with each professor, the Organic one would win out. Should this change anything?

Since you got the same grades in both, then the next best thing is to go for the one who has a better relationship with you. Definitely choose orgo.
 
Physics professor that I have had for both Physics I and II or Organic Chemistry professor that I have had for Organic II and Organic Lab?

A's have been earned in all aforementioned courses.

well from your lack of details it would really go either way.



physics.

I did better in both Physics than in both Organics. However, if I were to compare how "close" I was with each professor, the Organic one would win out. Should this change anything?

yeah if you were just a face in the crowd you'll obviously get a generic crap LOR.


Go without whoever knows you better.

Go with the professor you're closer with, definitely.

Since you got the same grades in both, then the next best thing is to go for the one who has a better relationship with you. Definitely choose orgo.
Merging
 
So, I'm starting to get my portfolios ready to hand to my letter writers. One thing I'm including is my resume.

Do you guys have an objective on your resume? I've heard from different people that objectives are outdated, but I know many people still use them.

If you have an objective, what is it? "To aspire my dream of becoming a god dam*ed physician"? :)

Thank you
 
Im taking Life Sciences courses this summer and was wondering if LORs from the professor from those classes would count as Science LOR. The courses in the approved life sciences list for my major mostly deal with plants, insects, birds, domestic animals, evolution and such. I am currently signed up for Local Flora of North Florida (From the botany department) and Introduction to Animal Sciences (From Animal Sciences Department).
 
Is a LOR from a non-science teacher really necessary? I've been out of undergrad for 2 years and have only taken science post bacc courses. I will most likely have 4 science LOR, 1 DO LOR, maybe 1 MD LOR, and one employer LOR. Do I have to figure out a way to get a non-science LOR too?
 
Is a LOR from a non-science teacher really necessary? I've been out of undergrad for 2 years and have only taken science post bacc courses. I will most likely have 4 science LOR, 1 DO LOR, maybe 1 MD LOR, and one employer LOR. Do I have to figure out a way to get a non-science LOR too?

It varies with each school - some are more lenient than others regarding LOR requirements. I'd call each school you're applying to, explaining to them that you've been out of undergrad for a few years, and see if they can substitute the non-science LOR with another LOR.
 
It varies with each school - some are more lenient than others regarding LOR requirements. I'd call each school you're applying to, explaining to them that you've been out of undergrad for a few years, and see if they can substitute the non-science LOR with another LOR.

Ok thanks. I always thought it was best to have more science LORs and that a non-science LOR was acceptable, not that a non-science LOR is actually something ADCOMs might want.
 
Ok thanks. I always thought it was best to have more science LORs and that a non-science LOR was acceptable, not that a non-science LOR is actually something ADCOMs might want.

They want us well-rounded. :laugh:
 
Im taking Life Sciences courses this summer and was wondering if LORs from the professor from those classes would count as Science LOR. The courses in the approved life sciences list for my major mostly deal with plants, insects, birds, domestic animals, evolution and such. I am currently signed up for Local Flora of North Florida (From the botany department) and Introduction to Animal Sciences (From Animal Sciences Department).

Any advice on this?
 
I think that it can count as science, but why get one from this summer? The LOR may come in too late, so I would rather ask a science prof you already had

I didnt get a chance to develop the strongest relationships with earlier science professors. These life sciences courses are made up of fewer students, so I would be able to make the best impression fairly quickly.
 
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