AACOMAS LOR Sent to Every School

[mcatcircuit]

I am confused about the AACOMAS LOR situation. I am aware that all LORs added to our AACOMAS application will be sent to every school that we submit to. However, since every school has different letter requirements, how would this work? I am using individual letters, and I see some schools request 1 science & 1 non-science whereas some require 2 science, etc. I also read on here that sending more LORs than requested may be detrimental.... Help would be greatly appreciated!

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[IWillMakeIt1]

wondering the same thing...

 

[Chris07]

The schools will get all of your LORs and will pick out the ones they need. They will probably read all of them but so long as you have the ones required you're good.

I had 5 LORs last cycle.
2 science professors
1 non-science professor
1 DO
1 Miscellaneous LOR from my volunteer coordinator (who was also an NP)

Truthfully I could have omitted the last one, but it was so strong I just left it in there.

That pretty much covered every requirement for most DO schools. I think 5 LORs really should be an absolute max.

 

[johhnybravo]

.

 

[Coltuna]

To add to OP's question, is there a way we could designate (at the end of our secondary perhaps?) which letters we would prefer to be read if they're just choosing X number?

 

[leturbinator]

To add to OP's question, is there a way we could designate (at the end of our secondary perhaps?) which letters we would prefer to be read if they're just choosing X number?

That you cannot. I don't believe there is a specific way to choose which letters of recommendation you want read, but honestly, if you don't want a certain LOR being read, it's best not to upload it to begin with. I would definitely contact AACOMAS to clarify.

 

[Coltuna]

That you cannot. I don't believe there is a specific way to choose which letters of recommendation you want read, but honestly, if you don't want a certain LOR being read, it's best not to upload it to begin with. I would definitely contact AACOMAS to clarify.

Oh definitely! There are just two science letters in particular that I know will be much better than the others, so I was hoping to bring attention to those if possible. Thanks!

 

[mcatcircuit]

The schools will get all of your LORs and will pick out the ones they need. They will probably read all of them but so long as you have the ones required you're good.

I had 5 LORs last cycle.
2 science professors
1 non-science professor
1 DO
1 Miscellaneous LOR from my volunteer coordinator (who was also an NP)

Truthfully I could have omitted the last one, but it was so strong I just left it in there.

That pretty much covered every requirement for most DO schools. I think 5 LORs really should be an absolute max.

Thanks! I remember reading somewhere on SDN that if we send more than what is required, they will only take the 1st 3 on the list and not consider the others. Do you know if this is true?

Also, I know I can add more letters to AACOMAS after submission for verification. Does this mean I can click "I am not adding any evaluations" just so I can submit? Then I can add more later? I am wondering if clicking that will lock that section for me after verification.

 

[Chris07]

Thanks! I remember reading somewhere on SDN that if we send more than what is required, they will only take the 1st 3 on the list and not consider the others. Do you know if this is true?

Also, I know I can add more letters to AACOMAS after submission for verification. Does this mean I can click "I am not adding any evaluations" just so I can submit? Then I can add more later? I am wondering if clicking that will lock that section for me after verification.

Every adcom is different. I'd imagine that some do pick out the required ones, but I'd be surprised if they didn't at least skim over the others assuming you didn't send a whole stack of letters. I'd just assume they're all going to get read. If they don't read some of them, you'd never know it anyway. No need to lose sleep over it.

Now don't quote me on this, but I believe you can select that you are not adding evaluations and submit your application and change it later. I added a few letters after submitting my primary last cycle so I'm pretty sure that section doesn't lock once primaries are sent. I would recommend using interfolio. It makes things a little easier and allows you to keep your letters for next cycle in case you're unsuccessful this year. Nothing like having to track down letter writers a year later to reupload/rewrite their letters. I had my letter writers submit their LORs directly to AACOMAS and one forgot to sign and the other didn't use letterhead. Since AACOMAS doesn't allow letter writers to update their letters once submitted, I was forced to use interfolio to send the corrected letters to each school that requested the corrections. The whole process would have been easier with interfolio and then importing the letters from interfolio to AACOMAS.

 

[ImDiene0412]

I just wanted to verify that there is no way to remove a LOR after it has a "complete" status on the application? I haven't submitted for verification and am using Interfolio if this makes any difference.
I uploaded a committee letter (which may not be a strong reference) with the intent of only using it for one school which required a committee letter and realized after it would go out to every school :/

 

[Chris07]

I pretty sure once it's in, it's in. I'm not an AACOMAS expert so they'd be the people to ask. Out of all the schools I applied to last year, I don't really recall any that didn't accept a committee letter, often in lieu of the science professor letters.

 

[mcatcircuit]

Thanks @Chris07 !
To follow up: I spoke to AACOMAS just now and they confirmed we can press 'I am not adding any evaluations' to submit our app for verification. We will still be able to add LORs whenever after that.

 

[futurexray]

Just remember if you keep adding letters schools have no way of knowing this and it is a waste of their time to keep going back over and over and over again to review the same application. Get it right the first time because you may not get a second look