2014 AMCAS verified

[Schwann]

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In order to get amcas verified, do all the LOR's have to be submitted to each school?

 

[0Complications]

In order to get amcas verified, do all the LOR's have to be submitted to each school?

No. That is separate as far as I understand. Most schools, however, won't count you as complete until they receive your LOR's.

 

[phospho]

No. That is separate as far as I understand. Most schools, however, won't count you as complete until they receive your LOR's.

Correct. Your app can be verified without the LORs.

OP, also, note that at the majority of schools, you can be considered complete without your letters being received by AMCAS, if the schools are not participating with AMCAS in the letter service (assuming you get your LORs to them in the way they request, and you have their secondary submitted, etc...)

 

[AdmiralChz]

You can do LORs on your own time - feel free to do them early or later. Are more schools using the AMCAS letter service this year?

Just an FYI - if you use something like interfolio, it took AMCAS a week to put my letters in their system after I sent it to them. So keep that in mind (that it won't be immediate, at least for last year).

 

[Pedsbro]

You can do LORs on your own time - feel free to do them early or later. Are more schools using the AMCAS letter service this year?

Just an FYI - if you use something like interfolio, it took AMCAS a week to put my letters in their system after I sent it to them. So keep that in mind (that it won't be immediate, at least for last year).

Here's the list for the next app cycle of schools using the AMCAS LOR service...looks like way more than last year.

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm

 

[flip26]

Here's the list for the next app cycle of schools using the AMCAS LOR service...looks like way more than last year.

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm

No kidding - it is all but a handful of med schools this year...they must be trying to run Interfolio out of business.

In the instructions, it says that the letter writer must include the AMCAS Letter ID found on your Letter Request Form. When and where do I obtain this ID?

I am using Interfolio, so this begs questions: when/how do I get a letter request form from AMCAS? I already have several letters that have been submitted to Interfolio - do I now need to go back and get this AMCAS Letter ID to the writers and have them somehow amend their letters in Interfolio, or is this something I can instruct Interfolio to do prior to submitting the letters to AMCAS?

This seems awfully complicated by adding a second step (Interfolio => AMCAS). It makes me wonder now if it wouldn't be simpler to skip Interfolio and then have letter writers submit the letters directly to AMCAS?

 

[Pedsbro]

No kidding - it is all but a handful of med schools this year...they must be trying to run Interfolio out of business.

In the instructions, it says that the letter writer must include the AMCAS Letter ID found on your Letter Request Form. When and where do I obtain this ID?

I am using Interfolio, so this begs questions: when/how do I get a letter request form from AMCAS? I already have several letters that have been submitted to Interfolio - do I now need to go back and get this AMCAS Letter ID to the writers and have them somehow amend their letters in Interfolio, or is this something I can instruct Interfolio to do prior to submitting the letters to AMCAS?

This seems awfully complicated by adding a second step (Interfolio => AMCAS). It makes me wonder now if it wouldn't be simpler to skip Interfolio and then have letter writers submit the letters directly to AMCAS?

This ID is created for each individual letter that you enter into AMCAS. All of my letters last year were at Interfolio and I had to send them to AMCAS for several schools. First thing I did was enter each letter writer into AMCAS. Let's say Dr. Smith. It then generates a Letter ID for Dr. Smith on the Letter Request form that is created for you. You go to Dr. Smith's letter in Interfolio and make a delivery (each letter at a time) to AMCAS (include the AAMC ID and Dr. Smith's Letter ID from the AMCAS form). Repeat this for each letter you want sent to AMCAS from Interfolio.

Edit: I agree, Interfolio and VirtualEval are probably going to be out of the med school app LOR business in a few years....although they have other, smaller markets. And yeah, sending the letters straight to AMCAS is going to be a lot easier and faster than going through the extra step (provided all of your schools will be using the AMCAS service. if not, go with Interfolio for now).

 

[flip26]

This ID is created for each individual letter that you enter into AMCAS. All of my letters last year were at Interfolio and I had to send them to AMCAS for several schools. First thing I did was enter each letter writer into AMCAS. Let's say Dr. Smith. It then generates a Letter ID for Dr. Smith on the Letter Request form that is created for you. You go to Dr. Smith's letter in Interfolio and make a delivery (each letter at a time) to AMCAS (include the AAMC ID and Dr. Smith's Letter ID from the AMCAS form). Repeat this for each letter you want sent to AMCAS from Interfolio.

Thanks for that explanation. So it makes sense to just stick with Interfolio since I have already started with them, but it seems pretty clear to me that Interfolio will become obsolete, or at least an unnecessary expense and step, in upcoming cycles.

Although one advantage for Interfolio is that you can get letter writers to submit letters early, like now, as opposed to asking them to write a letter and then having to hunt them down in May/June to submit them to AMCAS, because I assume that until I can start the AMCAS app, I have no ID and no way to request letters, right? So maybe Interfolio will still make sense in the future.

 

[Pedsbro]

Thanks for that explanation. So it makes sense to just stick with Interfolio since I have already started with them, but it seems pretty clear to me that Interfolio will become obsolete, or at least an unnecessary expense and step, in upcoming cycles.

If you've already started with Interfolio and some letters are already there or on their way, I would just go with them. It is another delivery fee for each letter to AMCAS, but in the whole scheme of the cost of med school application, seems like chump change.

 

[Pedsbro]

Although one advantage for Interfolio is that you can get letter writers to submit letters early, like now, as opposed to asking them to write a letter and then having to hunt them down in May/June to submit them to AMCAS, because I assume that until I can start the AMCAS app, I have no ID and no way to request letters, right? So maybe Interfolio will still make sense in the future.

Yeah i'm not sure how that will work, that's a good point. Unless they open up the app earlier, you'd have to wait until May. Hopefully they'll have that figured out as the rest of the AMCAS schools join up with the LOR service. Last year was the pilot program after all...I'm sure there are some kinks being worked out.

 

[Appless]

So you cant upload your letters to AMCAS until may? Im a little confused on how this works. So in may when the apps open you can get your letter ID and then get the letter request form at the same time? I couldnt find the letter request form anywhere.....I have 5 LOR's in my file with virtual evals (through my school). 4 of them i have read actually and I know they are strong, but one....is from a teacher who I dont know if he wrote something bad, but im fairly sure its not a good letter/useless LOR. Id like to avoid the letter but I cant remove it from my file. If im understanding this right, I could just have my other 4 teachers upload the files to AMCAS and then skip virtual evals? I counted 31/37 of the med schools im applying to there. Then I think I could just use virtualevals to send the other 6 schools?

Also is that list for this upcoming cycle in 09-10?

 

[flip26]

So you cant upload your letters to AMCAS until may? Im a little confused on how this works. So in may when the apps open you can get your letter ID and then get the letter request form at the same time? I couldnt find the letter request form anywhere.....I have 5 LOR's in my file with virtual evals (through my school). 4 of them i have read actually and I know they are strong, but one....is from a teacher who I dont know if he wrote something bad, but im fairly sure its not a good letter/useless LOR. Id like to avoid the letter but I cant remove it from my file. If im understanding this right, I could just have my other 4 teachers upload the files to AMCAS and then skip virtual evals? I counted 31/37 of the med schools im applying to there. Then I think I could just use virtualevals to send the other 6 schools?

Also is that list for this upcoming cycle in 09-10?

Here is my newfound understanding:

You have to use the AMCAS service for your 31 schools - there is no choice to be made here. After the new app opens in early May, you then identify to AMCAS your letter writers, obtain the IDs, and then have Virtual Evals forward the letters "of your choosing" to AMCAS. If you have a letter you are uncertain about, I say dump it.

For the handful of schools not using AMCAS, you can just use VE.

No need to burden your letter writers with sending the letters to AMCAS. You can take care of that in May.

Pedsbro: please correct any mistakes I am making...

 

[Appless]

Here is my newfound understanding:

You have to use the AMCAS service for your 31 schools - there is no choice to be made here. After the new app opens in early May, you then identify to AMCAS your letter writers, obtain the IDs, and then have Virtual Evals forward the letters "of your choosing" to AMCAS. If you have a letter you are uncertain about, I say dump it.

For the handful of schools not using AMCAS, you can just use VE.

No need to burden your letter writers with sending the letters to AMCAS. You can take care of that in May.

Pedsbro: please correct any mistakes I am making...

I thought about that too but here is the REALLY stupid thing about my school. They send letters through virtual evals but you cant choose which letters they send, they send every letter in your file no matter what so I cant just "dump" it so to speak(unless im misunderstanding the process so correct me if im wrong). But i know they send every letter no matter what, they constantly tell us that. Which is why I was going to go the path I was thinking. I got the letter because at the time I had no choice...it was very unexpected that my old psych prof would write me a letter, and by that point it was already too late to remove the other one🙁

 

[flip26]

I thought about that too but here is the REALLY stupid thing about my school. They send letters through virtual evals but you cant choose which letters they send, they send every letter in your file no matter what so I cant just "dump" it so to speak(unless im misunderstanding the process so correct me if im wrong). But i know they send every letter no matter what, they constantly tell us that. Which is why I was going to go the path I was thinking. I got the letter because at the time I had no choice...it was very unexpected that my old psych prof would write me a letter, and by that point it was already too late to remove the other one🙁

I don't know how VE works, but you have control of the letters once they get to AMCAS - even if VE sends all of them to AMCAS, at that point, it is YOU who controls the distribution of letters to schools.

This double step system actually helps you, at least with the 31 schools. Not sure about the ones that will get the letters from VE.

I would check to see if you can have the questionable letter deleted from VE. I have a hard time believing that is not possible, but I know nothing about that system. I know that with Interfolio if I decided to not use a letter, that is my choice.

All of the above is my opinion based on my understanding of how this works, and I know what I know from Pedsbro...

Crazy idea: can you have your VE letters submitted to Interfolio? Might work...

 

[BlueElmo]

My schools has a letter servince, and I sent all my letters to them. Does AMCAS accept letters from undergrad letter service?

Should I create a Interfolio account and have my school's letter service send the LORs to Interfoilo?

 

[beerog2003]

I thought about that too but here is the REALLY stupid thing about my school. They send letters through virtual evals but you cant choose which letters they send, they send every letter in your file no matter what so I cant just "dump" it so to speak(unless im misunderstanding the process so correct me if im wrong). But i know they send every letter no matter what, they constantly tell us that. Which is why I was going to go the path I was thinking. I got the letter because at the time I had no choice...it was very unexpected that my old psych prof would write me a letter, and by that point it was already too late to remove the other one🙁

I used Interfolio last year and it was pretty simple.

1. Ask your letter writers to upload on Interfolio now.
2. Once AMCAS opens, send the letters to AMCAS via Interfolio.
(Interfolio has the option for you to add your AMCAS number to your letter before you send it, and AMCAS did not have a problem receiving my letters last year.)
3. If you are applying to schools that do not use the AMCAS letter service, you will still be able to select letters to send out via Interfolio.

I would not want to risk having a bad/marginal letter of recommendation being sent out.

 

[SteinUmStein]

Edit: nevermind, question answered thoroughly by beerog2003.

 

[Pedsbro]

Here is my newfound understanding:

You have to use the AMCAS service for your 31 schools - there is no choice to be made here. After the new app opens in early May, you then identify to AMCAS your letter writers, obtain the IDs, and then have Virtual Evals forward the letters "of your choosing" to AMCAS. If you have a letter you are uncertain about, I say dump it.

For the handful of schools not using AMCAS, you can just use VE.

No need to burden your letter writers with sending the letters to AMCAS. You can take care of that in May.

Pedsbro: please correct any mistakes I am making...

Yeah, that sounds right. I assume VE works similarly to Interfolio. And yes, that is the list for the upcoming 09-10 cycle.

 

[Pedsbro]

I used Interfolio last year and it was pretty simple.

1. Ask your letter writers to upload on Interfolio now.
2. Once AMCAS opens, send the letters to AMCAS via Interfolio.
(Interfolio has the option for you to add your AMCAS number to your letter before you send it, and AMCAS did not have a problem receiving my letters last year.)
3. If you are applying to schools that do not use the AMCAS letter service, you will still be able to select letters to send out via Interfolio.

I would not want to risk having a bad/marginal letter of recommendation being sent out.

Yeah, thats the succinct way to do it. I had no problems sending letters from Interfolio to AMCAS either. I will say you should do it as early as possible, because it did take a fairly long time for AMCAS to confirm on the app that they received the letters.

 

[BlueElmo]

My schools has a letter servince, and I sent all my letters to them. Does AMCAS accept letters from undergrad letter service?

Should I create a Interfolio account and have my school's letter service send the LORs to Interfoilo?

Can anyone help me?

 

[RySerr21]

My schools has a letter servince, and I sent all my letters to them. Does AMCAS accept letters from undergrad letter service?

Should I create a Interfolio account and have my school's letter service send the LORs to Interfoilo?

Do they use VirtualEval? Thats what my school used and there was no problem. Getting an interfolio account is unnecessary if your school uses another service. They will take care of everything for you. For the few schools that didnt accept VirtualEval, the health dept sent my letter packet by snail mail. I didnt have to do anything. It was a wonderful service that I am thankful I was able to use.

 

[Appless]

Yeah, thats the succinct way to do it. I had no problems sending letters from Interfolio to AMCAS either. I will say you should do it as early as possible, because it did take a fairly long time for AMCAS to confirm on the app that they received the letters.

so I need to open an interfolio account and ask my teachers to resend their letters to them? Sorry Ive never delt with interfolio and no one at my school uses it as most use our school LOR service. Do my teachers need to make their own interfolio account? sorry its a little confusing to me and im sure all my letter writers have never used interfolio before so it would be helpful to them if i knew what they needed to do.

 

[Lukkie]

I used Interfolio last year and it was pretty simple.

1. Ask your letter writers to upload on Interfolio now.
2. Once AMCAS opens, send the letters to AMCAS via Interfolio.
(Interfolio has the option for you to add your AMCAS number to your letter before you send it, and AMCAS did not have a problem receiving my letters last year.)
3. If you are applying to schools that do not use the AMCAS letter service, you will still be able to select letters to send out via Interfolio.

I would not want to risk having a bad/marginal letter of recommendation being sent out.

This was exactly the plan I was thinking about yet you answered it before I even asked the question. Thanks!!! 👍

 

[Lukkie]

Here's the list for the next app cycle of schools using the AMCAS LOR service...looks like way more than last year.

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcasletters.htm

😱

AMCAS now accepts Letters of Evaluation/Recommendation for 114 participating medical schools

The question now is, which schools DON'T accept AMCAS letters?? 👎

LOL - stanford doesn't.

 

[BlueElmo]

Do they use VirtualEval? Thats what my school used and there was no problem. Getting an interfolio account is unnecessary if your school uses another service. They will take care of everything for you. For the few schools that didnt accept VirtualEval, the health dept sent my letter packet by snail mail. I didnt have to do anything. It was a wonderful service that I am thankful I was able to use.

No, my school's letter service don't use VE. They just snail mail the packet to individual schools. 😕

 

[RySerr21]

No, my school's letter service don't use VE. They just snail mail the packet to individual schools. 😕

oooo, well then. I dont see why that would be a problem. I'm sure your school knows whether or not they need to send their packets to AMCAS. Thats a hell of a lot of extra work for your school though. I wonder why they do that?

 

[BlueElmo]

oooo, well then. I dont see why that would be a problem. I'm sure your school knows whether or not they need to send their packets to AMCAS. Thats a hell of a lot of extra work for your school though. I wonder why they do that?

I don't know. So I don't have to do anything other than tell my school to send the packet to AMCAS?
I was thinking of creating Interfolio and having my school send it to them. Then have Interfolio send it to AMCAS.

 

[Appless]

I don't know. So I don't have to do anything other than tell my school to send the packet to AMCAS?
I was thinking of creating Interfolio and having my school send it to them. Then have Interfolio send it to AMCAS.

thats about your only option. I just looked on amcas some more and there are actually 114 med schools that are using the LOR pilot on amcas. Meaning just about every school you are applying to will take LOR from amcas only. I recounted and actually 35/37 med schools Im interested in are using it. The only schools I found not using it were UCSF and albany med college (of the 37). I think its a bit redundant to make an interfolio account. If you started your app on may 1st then had your school send it out that week, they should be there in plenty of time before june 1st is there. Considering there are what 125 schools, you can assume every school basically does it.

 

[BlueElmo]

Okay, I contacted my school's Letter Service and they said they will forward my packet to AMCAS. I only have to attach one AMCAS Letter Request form, apparently. Thanks RySerr and Elijah for helping out.👍

 

[phospho]

No kidding - it is all but a handful of med schools this year...they must be trying to run Interfolio out of business.

holy crap, they were only 21 schools this cycle... now it's 114... if only they did it for us 2013's - that would've saved me some cash...

interfolio is screwed

 

[Ariadne]

Okay, I contacted my school's Letter Service and they said they will forward my packet to AMCAS. I only have to attach one AMCAS Letter Request form, apparently. Thanks RySerr and Elijah for helping out.👍

Just to confuse things even more, I was recently told by my pre-med adviser that when we submit a packet of letters to AMCAS from our school's service (versus each professor submitting their letter individually with an individual letter request form), it is treated as 1 letter. Therefore, that entire packet will be sent to every school, and we can't individually assign letters to schools. I'm not sure if she's right about this, and if she is, what to do about it...

 

[0Complications]

Just to confuse things even more, I was recently told by my pre-med adviser that when we submit a packet of letters to AMCAS from our school's service (versus each professor submitting their letter individually with an individual letter request form), it is treated as 1 letter. Therefore, that entire packet will be sent to every school, and we can't individually assign letters to schools. I'm not sure if she's right about this, and if she is, what to do about it...

Maybe you can preemptively submit the names of the letter writers on your amcas app and get the number associated with that writer to either the writer or have the school attach each writer's ID number to their specific letter. It is possible that when amcas receives the letters they would then sort them by associated ID (writer).

Just a thought, but I know next to nothing about this process. I'm going to be doing the interfolio transfer.

 

[BlueElmo]

Just to confuse things even more, I was recently told by my pre-med adviser that when we submit a packet of letters to AMCAS from our school's service (versus each professor submitting their letter individually with an individual letter request form), it is treated as 1 letter. Therefore, that entire packet will be sent to every school, and we can't individually assign letters to schools. I'm not sure if she's right about this, and if she is, what to do about it...

Are you serious? I have 6 letters on file. I was going to pick which ones for schools that only want 4-5 letters. WTF. What do I do now?

Maybe the schools will be forced to read all 6 letters? I don't know if they will be happy about that though.

 

[Ariadne]

Are you serious? I have 6 letters on file. I was going to pick which ones for schools that only want 4-5 letters. WTF. What do I do now?

Maybe the schools will be forced to read all 6 letters? I don't know if they will be happy about that though.

Yes, this is what she said as well. According to her, all schools using the AMCAS letter service have agreed to accept the total packet of letters (even if it exceeds their max), as long as it has their minimum requirements in it (i.e. non-science, science, etc.).

My concern is that I don't want to send all letters to all schools. For example, my non-science letter is easily the weakest of the bunch, so I'd rather not send it to schools that don't require it. Similarly, I have several research focused letters that don't necessarily need to go to the more clinically driven schools.

 

[JamesBond15]

Are you serious? I have 6 letters on file. I was going to pick which ones for schools that only want 4-5 letters. WTF. What do I do now?

Maybe the schools will be forced to read all 6 letters? I don't know if they will be happy about that though.

Yes, this is what she said as well. According to her, all schools using the AMCAS letter service have agreed to accept the total packet of letters (even if it exceeds their max), as long as it has their minimum requirements in it (i.e. non-science, science, etc.).

My concern is that I don't want to send all letters to all schools. For example, my non-science letter is easily the weakest of the bunch, so I'd rather not send it to schools that don't require it. Similarly, I have several research focused letters that don't necessarily need to go to the more clinically driven schools.

Send each letter individually to AMCAS. That way they are individually entered and you then can select which letter goes to which school. The "packet" that your LOR service makes can contain as many or few letters as you like. At least ours allowed that.

 

[Ariadne]

Send each letter individually to AMCAS. That way they are individually entered and you then can select which letter goes to which school. The "packet" that your LOR service makes can contain as many or few letters as you like. At least ours allowed that.

So how does that work with the letter request form then? My adviser told me to get one and fill it out with her information. To send the letters in separate installments, do I need separate request forms? How does my adviser make sure that AMCAS doesn't lump the letters together?

I understand what you're saying, I'm just not sure how to make it happen.

 

[JamesBond15]

So how does that work with the letter request form then? My adviser told me to get one and fill it out with her information. To send the letters in separate installments, do I need separate request forms? How does my adviser make sure that AMCAS doesn't lump the letters together?

I understand what you're saying, I'm just not sure how to make it happen.

You are going to be using a LOR service first, right? The LOR service has a waiver that you sign agreeing that you will not look at the letter. You give that waiver to your recommender who send your LOR and waiver to the LOR service. Your LOR service collects all the letters and should label them individually. Then from the LOR service, you send each letter individually to AMCAS. This past year AMCAS had two options for receiving letters. The packets that you talked about and just individual letters. So for each letter you have you enter it indiviudally into AMCAS. You print the form AMCAS gives you. You give that form to your LOR Service which will take that AMCAS form and send it with the corresponding LOR to AMCAS. AMCAS receives the individual letters and inputs it as such. Then you repeat this for the other letters.

I did it last year, it worked fine.

 

[BlueElmo]

Yes, this is what she said as well. According to her, all schools using the AMCAS letter service have agreed to accept the total packet of letters (even if it exceeds their max), as long as it has their minimum requirements in it (i.e. non-science, science, etc.).

My concern is that I don't want to send all letters to all schools. For example, my non-science letter is easily the weakest of the bunch, so I'd rather not send it to schools that don't require it. Similarly, I have several research focused letters that don't necessarily need to go to the more clinically driven schools.

Oh why didn't you say so before?🙂
Then I'm in the clear. Now I don't have to worry about which ones to pick. I can send everything in! 👍

 

[Ariadne]

You are going to be using a LOR service first, right? The LOR service has a waiver that you sign agreeing that you will not look at the letter. You give that waiver to your recommender who send your LOR and waiver to the LOR service. Your LOR service collects all the letters and should label them individually. Then from the LOR service, you send each letter individually to AMCAS. This past year AMCAS had two options for receiving letters. The packets that you talked about and just individual letters. So for each letter you have you enter it indiviudally into AMCAS. You print the form AMCAS gives you. You give that form to your LOR Service which will take that AMCAS form and send it with the corresponding LOR to AMCAS. AMCAS receives the individual letters and inputs it as such. Then you repeat this for the other letters.

I did it last year, it worked fine.

My situation is slightly different. My adviser collects hard copies of my letters from the individual writers, and then submits them (in the past to schools, now AMCAS).

So, according to her I supposed to print a single form (with her info on it, not that of the individual writers), give it to her, and then she submits a packet of my letters to AMCAS and that entire packet will be submitted to each school.

So, can I somehow have her submit a packet with my 6 other letters, and then an additional single letter? Or will single letters invalidate the whole 'packet' idea?

I'm so confused. 🙁

BlueElmo, if your letters are submitted individually, I don't think the schools will take more than the max, but if they come as a packet from your adviser/LOR service they will. At least this is my understanding...

EDIT:

Just to clarify, when I say "packet," I'm not just referring to a bunch of letters sent at once from a LOR service. Honestly, I'm not sure what exactly it refers to, but if you look at the AMCAS LOR page it refers to a LOR packet under the number of letters an applicant is allowed (10). It classifies a packet as 1 letter. 😕

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcaslettersfaq.htm

 

[BlueElmo]

My situation is slightly different. My adviser collects hard copies of my letters from the individual writers, and then submits them (in the past to schools, now AMCAS).

So, according to her I supposed to print a single form (with her info on it, not that of the individual writers), give it to her, and then she submits a packet of my letters to AMCAS and that entire packet will be submitted to each school.

So, can I somehow have her submit a packet with my 6 other letters, and then an additional single letter? Or will single letters invalidate the whole 'packet' idea?

I'm so confused. 🙁

BlueElmo, if your letters are submitted individually, I don't think the schools will take more than the max, but if they come as a packet from your adviser/LOR service they will. At least this is my understanding...

EDIT:

Just to clarify, when I say "packet," I'm not just referring to a bunch of letters sent at once from a LOR service. Honestly, I'm not sure what exactly it refers to, but if you look at the AMCAS LOR page it refers to a LOR packet under the number of letters an applicant is allowed (10). It classifies a packet as 1 letter. 😕
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcaslettersfaq.htm

I think the package of letters that your LOR service sends to the AMCAS is considered a "packet". And that packet with 5 or 6 letters is considered "one" letter.

Why don't you just submit your entire letters as one package? Makes life much simpler.
If you are iffy about that non-science letter, you can just take it out now. You don't want any iffy letters at all in the first place, is my understanding.

 

[JamesBond15]

My situation is slightly different. My adviser collects hard copies of my letters from the individual writers, and then submits them (in the past to schools, now AMCAS).

So, according to her I supposed to print a single form (with her info on it, not that of the individual writers), give it to her, and then she submits a packet of my letters to AMCAS and that entire packet will be submitted to each school.

So, can I somehow have her submit a packet with my 6 other letters, and then an additional single letter? Or will single letters invalidate the whole 'packet' idea?

I'm so confused. 🙁

BlueElmo, if your letters are submitted individually, I don't think the schools will take more than the max, but if they come as a packet from your adviser/LOR service they will. At least this is my understanding...

EDIT:

Just to clarify, when I say "packet," I'm not just referring to a bunch of letters sent at once from a LOR service. Honestly, I'm not sure what exactly it refers to, but if you look at the AMCAS LOR page it refers to a LOR packet under the number of letters an applicant is allowed (10). It classifies a packet as 1 letter. 😕

http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/faq/amcaslettersfaq.htm

First: Personally I don't think sending each school the standard "packet" is that great of an idea. I would pick and choice which schools got which letters. I also don't know how happy schools will be with they receive 6 letters yet only asked for 3. Will the school read all 6? Will they just pick 3?
I would try my best to get all the letters to be individual. But that is just me.

Now for your advisor. Like I said, AMCAS will allow you to send a packet or an individual letter. Whichever you pick, you will print a form from AMCAS. The form has your AMCAS ID, that is how they will place the letters into your file. I would ask your advisor to just send them individually and you would print 6 different forms and your advisor would send 6 different envelopes. More work for the advisor, but whatever. What you can also do, but double check with AMCAS because they might have changed it, is that you can send the letters as individual but place them into one envelope. So.. you print a separate form from AMCAS for each letter (not packet, but individual), then you place all 6 letters and 6 AMCAS forms into the envelope and send it to AMCAS. AMCAS will then separate them and record them as separate letters. Double check with AMCAS if they will do it this year, they did last year.

Personally, I would be a bit skeptical about the whole "you can send a packet and the school will accept the packet and read all of it part." But that is just me. I would double check this with AMCAS and not simply trust the advisor.

 

[Appless]

First: Personally I don't think sending each school the standard "packet" is that great of an idea. I would pick and choice which schools got which letters. I also don't know how happy schools will be with they receive 6 letters yet only asked for 3. Will the school read all 6? Will they just pick 3?
I would try my best to get all the letters to be individual. But that is just me.

Now for your advisor. Like I said, AMCAS will allow you to send a packet or an individual letter. Whichever you pick, you will print a form from AMCAS. The form has your AMCAS ID, that is how they will place the letters into your file. I would ask your advisor to just send them individually and you would print 6 different forms and your advisor would send 6 different envelopes. More work for the advisor, but whatever. What you can also do, but double check with AMCAS because they might have changed it, is that you can send the letters as individual but place them into one envelope. So.. you print a separate form from AMCAS for each letter (not packet, but individual), then you place all 6 letters and 6 AMCAS forms into the envelope and send it to AMCAS. AMCAS will then separate them and record them as separate letters. Double check with AMCAS if they will do it this year, they did last year.

Personally, I would be a bit skeptical about the whole "you can send a packet and the school will accept the packet and read all of it part." But that is just me. I would double check this with AMCAS and not simply trust the advisor.

Wait so let me get this straight. I have 5 letters in my LOR file at my school, they can send all 5 letters to amcas and I can choose which ones I can send to med schools...my school does the whole send one packet thing too, which makes no sense...sorry if im way off here maybe im just slow 😛

 

[Ariadne]

Why don't you just submit your entire letters as one package? Makes life much simpler.
If you are iffy about that non-science letter, you can just take it out now. You don't want any iffy letters at all in the first place, is my understanding.

I wish I could, but some schools require a non-science LOR. I've had nothing but science courses for the last two years, except for one social science class this semester (from which I'm getting the LOR). So, yeah, I'm kinda screwed. I'd just like to minimize the damage by only sending the non-science LOR to schools which require it.

First: Personally I don't think sending each school the standard "packet" is that great of an idea. I would pick and choice which schools got which letters. I also don't know how happy schools will be with they receive 6 letters yet only asked for 3. Will the school read all 6? Will they just pick 3?
I would try my best to get all the letters to be individual. But that is just me.

Now for your advisor. Like I said, AMCAS will allow you to send a packet or an individual letter. Whichever you pick, you will print a form from AMCAS. The form has your AMCAS ID, that is how they will place the letters into your file. I would ask your advisor to just send them individually and you would print 6 different forms and your advisor would send 6 different envelopes. More work for the advisor, but whatever. What you can also do, but double check with AMCAS because they might have changed it, is that you can send the letters as individual but place them into one envelope. So.. you print a separate form from AMCAS for each letter (not packet, but individual), then you place all 6 letters and 6 AMCAS forms into the envelope and send it to AMCAS. AMCAS will then separate them and record them as separate letters. Double check with AMCAS if they will do it this year, they did last year.

Personally, I would be a bit skeptical about the whole "you can send a packet and the school will accept the packet and read all of it part." But that is just me. I would double check this with AMCAS and not simply trust the advisor.

Thank you so much, this was really helpful!

 

[BlueElmo]

Wait so let me get this straight. I have 5 letters in my LOR file at my school, they can send all 5 letters to amcas and I can choose which ones I can send to med schools...my school does the whole send one packet thing too, which makes no sense...sorry if im way off here maybe im just slow 😛

If your undergrad sends all those 5 letters as "one packet" then no, you cannot pick and choose. AMCAS will forward that entire 5-letter packet to schools.

If you don't want that, do what JamesBond says. Have your school send out each letter individually to AMCAS. I think this is what I'm leaning towards to, after reading what JamesBond had to say.

What a pain in the ass this whole process is.

 

[JamesBond15]

If your undergrad sends all those 5 letters as "one packet" then no, you cannot pick and choose. AMCAS will forward that entire 5-letter packet to schools.

If you don't want that, do what JamesBond says. Have your school send out each letter individually to AMCAS. I think this is what I'm leaning towards to, after reading what JamesBond had to say.

What a pain in the ass this whole process is.

It takes a little more work on your part and the school's part but in the end you have total control over which school gets what letter.

BlueElmo: If your letters are at a LOR Service, then what I suggest to do it easy. Just request each letter individually to be sent and that is all.

 

[BlueElmo]

It takes a little more work on your part and the school's part but in the end you have total control over which school gets what letter.

BlueElmo: If your letters are at a LOR Service, then what I suggest to do it easy. Just request each letter individually to be sent and that is all.

Yeah, thanks for the advices. I think you pretty much cleared up all the confusion.👍