Adding additional letters after secondary submission?

[jjrao55531]

I submitted most of my secondaries in late August or early September, with up to 5 letters (depending on the schools' maximum allowed). None were from a physician though.

However, the doctor I have been shadowing just offered to write me a strong letter. UCSD strongly suggests having a letter from a physician, so I reached out to their admissions to ask about this. UCSD said that since they haven't reviewed my application yet (they're still getting through August submissions), it's okay (and could be helpful) to submit this additional letter. I uploaded it to AMCAS yesterday and submitted it to most of my schools.

Now I'm wondering if this was a bad choice. Is it going to look now on my application that I didn't "complete" my secondary until just now, i.e. will this delay review of my secondaries? I don't know whether other schools share UCSD's opinion on this. My clinical experience was the weakest part of my application so I thought it would help, but now I'm regretting making this decision without consulting someone.

I'm hoping this thread can help other people who are in a similar situation, trying to decide whether to submit additional letters after submitting their secondaries.

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[Mr.Smile12]

I don't know what you're asking. What's done is done. Was a physician letter required at any of the other schools on your list? Were you not listed as complete prior to sending this last letter?

 

[jjrao55531]

I don't know what you're asking. What's done is done. Was a physician letter required at any of the other schools on your list? Were you not listed as complete prior to sending this last letter?

True, I guess there's nothing I can do at this point. It was not required to have a physician letter, but "strongly recommended" for a few schools. All my secondaries were already listed as "complete," because I had already submitted the required amount of letters. Perhaps the more problematic thing is that I sent it to some schools where I had already sent them the maximum number of letters they accept, so now I've exceeded their maximum. I don't know if this is a good reason to reach out to them.

 

[Goro]

. Perhaps the more problematic thing is that I sent it to some schools where I had already sent them the maximum number of letters they accept, so now I've exceeded their maximum. I don't know if this is a good reason to reach out to them.

Maximum means exactly that. They're not going to bend the rules for you, so it would be against your best interests to even try.