*~*~*~*Official Letters of Recommendation Questions Thread 2014-2015*~*~*~*

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tigerinthetaiga said:
Small detail, but do you entitle your faculty writers as Prof. or Dr.? I guess Prof. is the more prestigious/informative option, but I haven't ever seen any with that title on a formal document.
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I put MD or PhD or whatever after their name and nothing before.
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tigerinthetaiga said:
Small detail, but do you entitle your faculty writers as Prof. or Dr.? I guess Prof. is the more prestigious/informative option, but I haven't ever seen any with that title on a formal document.
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Leslie_Knope said:
I put MD or PhD or whatever after their name and nothing before.
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I put Dr. before all of mine and never listed the degrees. I can't imagine it matters either way.
 
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I was hoping someone could help me with my question.

I'm applying next year but I developed a good relationship with one of my science professors this semester and I decided to ask him for a letter of recommendation. He said he'd be happy to write a letter for me because I did very well in the class. He added a note saying that he wasn't sure if it would be the "strongest" letter for med school (I asked if he would write me a "strong" letter) because he said that med schools usually want letters with more substance and he cited research mentors as an example.

I still want to take the letter because he's happy to do it and he acknowledged that I did very well. I figured that we need LORs from professors anyway and since his office hours were one hour a week and it partly coincided with one of my classes, that I talked to him as much as I could have; it's nowhere near a research mentor with whom you might work significant hours per week. Should I go along with it?
 
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I have all of my letters of recommendation in AMCAS except one that won't be ready until late July. Would I be able to assign and send the ones that are ready to schools now, and then go back to assign the last one later in the summer? Or do I need to wait until the last one is in AMCAS and assign them all at the same time to each school?
 
My letters have been received by amcas and are marked "received." However, I failed to tell my letter writers to put my AMCAS ID# on the letter. Will this be a problem even though my letters have been received and designated to my application?
 
I have 1 science letter of rec but I'm trying to get another one. Many profs I've contacted over the past few months have said no because they're too busy, etc. Would it be okay to get a letter of rec from a prof I had for an upper-level biology course last summer? I took the summer class at my school (a top university), but I've noticed that the prof was not invited back to teach this summer, and I'm not entirely sure he/she is still a lecturer here (he/she is not on the department website list of "people"....). Any advice on whether this would be okay or not? Thanks
 
Question about letterhead:

My boss is a retired physician and Emeritus Professor from a top 10 school. Although I work for the company he founded after retirement is it appropriate for his LoR to be printed on letterhead from the school?
The name of the school will carry much more weight than the name of the company, but I don't want to raise any red flags because I'm not associated with the school.
 
So Ive made a huge mistake and need help!!

I miscounted the number of letters I had already created and it was 10 instead of 9. This wouldn't be a huge deal except I still need to add the committee letter from my school which includes the 2 sciences professors and 1 non-science. I couldn't figure out a way to delete any of the other letters so that I could add this one. Anybody know of a solution?
 
Would you just ask your referees to address "To the admissions committee"?

I'm a little confused since these are all general letters.
 
I'm in a bit of a letterhead pickle. The director of my volunteer program is writing me an LOR, but she recently retired, and as such no longer has access to the hospital letterhead. What is the best way to handle this? She can create a letterhead based on her current work but it wouldn't be very clearly linked to the volunteer program. Will this be acceptable?
 
Hey Everyone,

I just realized I made a huge mistake on my AMCAS. I realized that some schools accept a maximum of 4 letters and I assigned 6 letters to some of those schools. I can't change it either since I already submitted my application. What is going to happen? Will they read the newest ones first? I have the standard 2 science, and 1 non-science professor. But in addition I have one from my P.I., a volunteer coordinator, and a grad student I taught with. The problem is that I feel that my two of my weakest letters come from the professors while my strongest ones are from the people who are not my professors.


Thanks
 
I would email each school and specify which letters you want them to read.
 
When you create a letter entry in amcas (for an individual letter), does it send an email to the designated writer? I already have all of my letters in a "university account" that holds letters of rec for applicants and sends them to amcas, so I'm hoping my letter writers won't be bombarded with unnecessary emails after I make the entry. Thanks
 
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I just sent all my letters from Interfolio to AMCAS Letter Service.

When the AMCAS Letter Service sends the letters to MD schools, will the service include my AAMC ID number as part of a cover page? Schools seem to require that this number goes with all letters.
 
So frustrated. My fifth recommender, my only doctor, who has the best letter of the bunch, is MIA. I've sent a billion emails from different addresses and even tried contacting his employer. (He lives in the UK but travels all over the world.) Nada. I already assigned his letter to all my schools. Don't know what to do...

I have the letter he wrote for me for my MPH program, but someone on here told me it'd be a very bad idea to send it instead. Probably true. I might have to, though, for the schools that require 5 letters...

Does anyone know how to rectify the fact that I've assigned 5 letters to my schools and only have 4? Do i have to contact them individually to let them know not to expect a 5th?
 
Probably a dumb question, but I have my secondary application to UC Davis already to submit. I was wondering if the letters of recommendation have to be submitted before turning in my secondary application? Or if I could still just email the university after I submit the secondary and let them know that i'm sending another letter like it says in the FAQ. Im sending my secondary in with 2 science professors and a post-doc from my lab, but i'm still waiting on a nurse to write me a letter so I'm not too sure what to do.

Thanks!
 
I have just received an email from a school saying one of my personal letters of recommendation did not have a signature? The school suggested to have the letter writer resubmit the letter with a signature to amcas. I will do that but I am just wondering if I should let all the other schools that the letter is going to that it does not have a signature but I have uploaded one that does? Or does anyone else have any suggestions?
 
I've been out of school for 2 years (graduated 5/2012) and I'm currently in a Master's program that just started over the summer. I have a letter from an MD that I worked with and a letter from the director of marketing of a major hospital. And only these 2.

As an undergrad, I had a science prof and a non-science prof, in addition to the two listed above. Currently though, I can't get in touched with either of those profs.

In reading the literature on SDN, it appears AMCAS needs 2 sci profs and 1 outside source? Does that mean I'm SOL this cycle if I don't have 3? Especially if my only 2 aren't professors of any sort? (Read: should I even apply AMCAS?)
 
JuxGiant said:
I've been out of school for 2 years (graduated 5/2012) and I'm currently in a Master's program that just started over the summer. I have a letter from an MD that I worked with and a letter from the director of marketing of a major hospital. And only these 2.

As an undergrad, I had a science prof and a non-science prof, in addition to the two listed above. Currently though, I can't get in touched with either of those profs.

In reading the literature on SDN, it appears AMCAS needs 2 sci profs and 1 outside source? Does that mean I'm SOL this cycle if I don't have 3? Especially if my only 2 aren't professors of any sort? (Read: should I even apply AMCAS?)
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I believe that without a committee letter, virtually every MD schools require two science professor letters along with one non-science professor letters. I am not sure how lenient medical schools will be if you don't meet the letter requirements.
 
I have already applied to all my medical schools and sent back several secondaries. However, my pre-med committee will not churn out my committee letter until the end of July. This letter WILL be automatically sent to these medical schools once it is uploaded by them. Correct?
 
I am sorry if this has been asked before, but does anybody have a good suggestion on how to confront somebody who has yet to submit a letter of recommendation?

I e-mailed him on May 19th, and got a response May 22nd saying he would happily do it. I gave a deadline of mid-June just to be safe and waited patiently. I sent the same e-mail to my other writers and they all submitted it within 2 weeks.

I then sent another e-mail on June 9th just to give a friendly reminder about the deadline. I did not receive a response until July 1st, where he said he would finish it in the next coming days because he was out of town. I realize he might still be working on it and will finish it soon, but I was wondering what I should do if by next week it is still not submitted.

He has a history of being lazy about these types of things, which is why I stayed on his back to make sure it was done. I understand he is doing a lot for me so I want to be very careful and appreciative, but I also do not want to wait too long and have this hurt me.

So what should I do? And if I have my secondaries submitted, when is the earliest they actually review everything, just so I know the LOR is not the thing holding me back.
 
Alucard6 said:
I am sorry if this has been asked before, but does anybody have a good suggestion on how to confront somebody who has yet to submit a letter of recommendation?

I e-mailed him on May 19th, and got a response May 22nd saying he would happily do it. I gave a deadline of mid-June just to be safe and waited patiently. I sent the same e-mail to my other writers and they all submitted it within 2 weeks.

I then sent another e-mail on June 9th just to give a friendly reminder about the deadline. I did not receive a response until July 1st, where he said he would finish it in the next coming days because he was out of town. I realize he might still be working on it and will finish it soon, but I was wondering what I should do if by next week it is still not submitted.

He has a history of being lazy about these types of things, which is why I stayed on his back to make sure it was done. I understand he is doing a lot for me so I want to be very careful and appreciative, but I also do not want to wait too long and have this hurt me.

So what should I do? And if I have my secondaries submitted, when is the earliest they actually review everything, just so I know the LOR is not the thing holding me back.
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I would call him. Do you have his office number? Is it possible to visit him in campus if you are nearby?
 
Sean Lee said:
I would call him. Do you have his office number? Is it possible to visit him in campus if you are nearby?
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I could call him, but I am 2 hours away from the campus. I am just unsure of how to approach the situation in general, like what to say so I do not seem like I am nagging him.
 
Question: I have a very strong LOR from a DO physician that I shadowed. He knows me well. I also shadowed his residents for weeks over the past few years. While I know this is good for DO schools, would it matter to send to MD schools as well? I feel a good letter from a Physician who knows me well is a positive but I am unsure of LOR etiquette. Any ideas/advice?
 
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DrPotter said:
Question: I have a very strong LOR from a DO physician that I shadowed. He knows me well. I also shadowed his residents for weeks over the past few years. While I know this is good for DO schools, would it matter to send to MD schools as well? I feel a good letter from a Physician who knows me well is a positive but I am unsure of LOR etiquette. Any ideas/advice?
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I would send it to MD schools. It's about the content of the letter and not so much the letters after the author's name.
 
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Interfolio confuses me. The first time I had a letter sent I distinctly remember paying 6 dollars. Since then, all of my letters have been free to send. I'm not complaining but does anyone know how the charging works? DO schools don't collect all the letters with the primary app like AMCAS does and I'm wondering if I'll have to pay to send each of them or what?
 
I was confused as well. I sent a letter within the last couple of days and for the first time it was free. Last year it was $6 to send pretty much anything, be it one or 4 letters.
 
My undergrad institution is writing me a committee letter. They have not submitted it yet despite my repeated requests. I called them today and they said they were having issues with "staffing" and would get to it as soon as they could.

How long do I have until schools start to hold the fact that my letters are not in against me? I received my first secondary 7/1/14.

Thanks in advance
 
Does anyone know how long AMCAS takes to upload letters once the letters are received? I know it says 2 weeks on AAMC website but is it really that long? My letters were mailed out by my school on 7/2 but still have not been uploaded onto AMCAS yet..... Should I be worried?
 
Allium cepa said:
Does anyone know how long AMCAS takes to upload letters once the letters are received? I know it says 2 weeks on AAMC website but is it really that long? My letters were mailed out by my school on 7/2 but still have not been uploaded onto AMCAS yet..... Should I be worried?
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In early June it took about two days from the time interfolio delivered and amcas received. I'm not sure if the wait is longer now though that it's later.
 
A combination of irresponsible counsellors and interfolio crapping out on me is making my final and possibly best letter late. It's driving me insane emailing all the different ppl each day trying to get the letter in, and out of all the parties involved I have the least amount of control over anything. I won't be late if I'm marked complete by end of this week or early next week right? Lateness was a big factor for me last year so I'm desperate to make sure it's not an issue this year.
 
Not sure of the best place/way to ask specific LOR questions. Thought I'd give this place a shot first and then move on to elsewhere.
I am a nontrad. student. with stat's that could be higher, but that are decent. I am trying to figure out how to get the best LOR packet together. My undergrad was in anthropology, got an mph and then did a postbacc. My postbacc courses were quite large and I was working part time and commuting so I had less than optimal time to get to know professors. I have great work and volunteer experiences, including research at a good medical center with an MD, but don't know many science professors sufficiently well to get a decent LOR. But I suppose these faculty science letters are necessary for the application?

As far as options:

-I could try to get letters from physics (B+) or biochem (A-) but I barely knew the professors in these classes.
- I took a physiology course for graduate credit and got a b+, but at this point it has been several years since the course.
-Do any biostat's or epi courses count as harder science courses? Are there other options I haven't considered?
 
Sorry, I posted this in a separate thread but saw that this is probably a better place to put my issue: I hope this is ok...

I realized that I have a problem with one of my LoRs. I got one from a program supervisor 3 years ago and sent it to AMCAS and all of my schools already. I wrote a draft of this letter for my supervisor and I don't know how much she used when sending it out. I used part of an essay I wrote for the program to help write the letter though. Stupidly, when I was writing my primary most meaningful activity section, I used 3-4 sentences from that same essay that show up almost exactly the same in my LoR draft. I thought I had checked my LoR draft, but clearly I did not, perhaps since it was so old I forgot. I'm scared that if she did not change my draft, that adcoms will notice this and think that I am unethical and toss my application out. Any advice or opinions on this matter would be great as I'm extremely, extremely, extremely concerned at this point. TIA.
 
If the LORs are marked as "Received" on AMCAS, and I've assigned them to schools, does that mean that they're currently getting sent to those medical schools? Or is there an extra step I'm missing?
 
Is it standard to submit a secondary before the committee letter is even sent to AMCAS?
Are there specific schools that want you to have LORs in before submitting the secondary?
 
jonhamm said:
Will schools that "require" a non-science faculty letter straight up deny me, regardless of the rest of my application, if I don't have that letter? Should I even bother applying to those schools?

(There is literally no chance I can acquire said letter. I'm a few years removed from undergrad, and the only prof that MIGHT remember me passed away a year ago.)
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Hey, I am in a similar situation (YEARS removed from undergrad)-did you figure this out? My only options are research advisors, MPH professors and ex-supervisors from work...
 
RumbaToMD said:
Hey, I am in a similar situation (YEARS removed from undergrad)-did you figure this out? My only options are research advisors, MPH professors and ex-supervisors from work...
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I ended up getting a non-science letter from a TA who knew me extremely well and wrote me a really strong letter. He also isn't a "regular" grad student; he's in his late thirties, tons of life experience, etc. If that letter isn't good enough for those schools then I'm SOL I guess. I get the feeling however that letter requirements are at least a LITTLE bit flexible.
 
jonhamm said:
I ended up getting a non-science letter from a TA who knew me extremely well and wrote me a really strong letter. He also isn't a "regular" grad student; he's in his late thirties, tons of life experience, etc. If that letter isn't good enough for those schools then I'm SOL I guess. I get the feeling however that letter requirements are at least a LITTLE bit flexible.
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Thanks for the reply-hoping that your letter is sufficient!
 
Does anyone know what schools REQUIRE a letter from a non-science faculty? Has anyone compiled a list anywhere? I am a few years out and there is no way my non-science teachers are even going to remember me.
 
This is probably a really neurotic question...but when I input my letters into AMCAS I forgot to put my letter writer's titles (Dr.). Does this matter? Obviously their credentials will be mentioned in their signature on my LOR. I've already designated to multiple schools.
 
JuxGiant said:
I've been out of school for 2 years (graduated 5/2012) and I'm currently in a Master's program that just started over the summer. I have a letter from an MD that I worked with and a letter from the director of marketing of a major hospital. And only these 2.

As an undergrad, I had a science prof and a non-science prof, in addition to the two listed above. Currently though, I can't get in touched with either of those profs.

In reading the literature on SDN, it appears AMCAS needs 2 sci profs and 1 outside source? Does that mean I'm SOL this cycle if I don't have 3? Especially if my only 2 aren't professors of any sort? (Read: should I even apply AMCAS?)
Click to expand...

Hello, were you able to find an answer? I'm also on the same boat and am looking for insight. Since I just finished a Masters program, the graduate level biochem course that I took was huge and the professor basically said the letter he could write would be too basic.
 
RumbaToMD said:
Hello, were you able to find an answer? I'm also on the same boat and am looking for insight. Since I just finished a Masters program, the graduate level biochem course that I took was huge and the professor basically said the letter he could write would be too basic.
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No one responded when I posted earlier ... I am almost at the point where I am just going to send an embarrassing email saying "Hey I had a class with you awhile ago and you probably don't remember me, but I was wondering if you would feel comfortable writing me a letter... I need one from a non-sci and I feel like since I took 2 classes from you...even though it was a few years ago... you might be able to do it best." I feel like Eng, Phl, Hst, Psy teachers probably get this from the desperate med school applicant every once in awhile. It sucks. I feel like the only way that you can get a great one is if you were like a eng/pre-med major.
 
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My committee letter/packet has finally been received by AMCAS (yesterday)- how long until they send to schools where I've already submitted a secondary? Or is this automatically done as soon as received? Are schools notified thru AMCAS that they've been sent? I see that this question in some form or other has been asked and not yet answered here. At least one of the schools to which I applied is already on their second wave of II's, and I'd like to get one, obviously.
 
Will a committee letter serve in place of a science professor? If not, what about my pre-health advisors letter?
 
I selected "send all letters" before submitting for everywhere I applied. How badly did I mess up? I have two science professors, two intern/research references and one work letter.

What will happen to schools who are only looking for 3 max and they receive all my 5 letters?
 
I think this question has been asked in one form or another but I just want to be clear:
So I already submitted my AMCAS and assigned a letter packet to most of my schools. To the schools that only required a few letters or specific letters, I did not assign them letters.

Is it possible to send the letter packet to these schools and email them specifying which letters to read? How does one go about doing that? Do you just add the same letter request form again on the application website and AMCAS will figure out that it's the same letter and send it to these schools? Or is there a way of forwarding the existing letter entry to these new schools?

Thank you!!
 
This is kind of a silly question... but if anyone can chime in that would be great!

The doctor that I shadowed/worked under has agreed to write me a LoR. The doctor and I are unrelated, even though we have the same last name (in English, but pronounced differently in Mandarin). Would the letter end up carrying less weight because the admission committees think that we are related due to the same last name? Should I ask my doctor to specify that we are unrelated in the LoR?

Thanks!
 
Just a few questions..

One of my professors is planning to write the LOR and give it to me to send to AAMC. Is that okay to do?
Also, I don't know the address of many of my professors. Can I simply just list the address of their place of work such as the school's address?

Thanks.
 
mikeg1991 said:
Just a few questions..

One of my professors is planning to write the LOR and give it to me to send to AAMC. Is that okay to do?
Also, I don't know the address of many of my professors. Can I simply just list the address of their place of work such as the school's address?

Thanks.
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Technically - no, you are not supposed to have access to your LOR. In practice, there is no way that this can be enforced.
Yes, it is perfectly normal to have their work address (and phone number) there.
 
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