"Application Complete" without LORs submitted?

[MedPR]

Say I currently have 6 LOR things on my AMCAS and I submit on June 5. Then by the time AMCAS verifies, 5/6 of my LORs are received. If that 6th LOR never gets sent, would my application never be "complete" and therefore never be looked at or considered?

The one that I'm unsure will get sent is from a teacher who I know will write a great LOR if he ever gets around to it. I developed a good relationship with him, but he was notorious throughout my two semesters with him for not updating grades/not returning exams and even forgot a scheduled exam once. Just not someone who is not very organized.

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[Ismet]

Your LORs aren't needed until the secondary stage

 

[weezynation]

Say I currently have 6 LOR things on my AMCAS and I submit on June 5. Then by the time AMCAS verifies, 5/6 of my LORs are received. If that 6th LOR never gets sent, would my application never be "complete" and therefore never be looked at or considered?

The one that I'm unsure will get sent is from a teacher who I know will write a great LOR if he ever gets around to it. I developed a good relationship with him, but he was notorious throughout my two semesters with him for not updating grades/not returning exams and even forgot a scheduled exam once. Just not someone who is not very organized.

Yes most schools will not consider you complete until all of your recommendations arrive. I know at Northwestern, though, they require 3 letters and when the first 3 letters arrive, they begin to evaluate your application.

 

[DAPI]

But if you do not assign this letter to schools, you will be considered complete.

So you can submit here on the 5th and then see if the letters come in by the time you get the secondaries. If the letter has not come in when you receive the first batch of secondaries, do not assign the letter to those schools. But then if the letter does come in a few days later when you are receiving "screened" secondaries, you can assign it to those schools.

Play it safe with this professor and do not assign it to schools until you see AMCAS receive it.

 

[weezynation]

But if you do not assign this letter to schools, you will be considered complete.

So you can submit here on the 5th and then see if the letters come in by the time you get the secondaries. If the letter has not come in when you receive the first batch of secondaries, do not assign the letter to those schools. But then if the letter does come in a few days later when you are receiving "screened" secondaries, you can assign it to those schools.

Play it safe with this professor and do not assign it to schools until you see AMCAS receive it.

This is great advice. You do not want that recommendation to hold up your application.

 

[CodeRedDew]

I'm in a similar situation; however, my "missing" letter would be my committee letter which I don't perceive to reach until Julyish. Should I not assign this letter to schools even though some schools require you to have a committee letter if your university offers the option? I will be sending/assigning my other 4 letters to schools but I would like to know if I should assign the committee letter as well.

 

[MedPR]

Yes most schools will not consider you complete until all of your recommendations arrive. I know at Northwestern, though, they require 3 letters and when the first 3 letters arrive, they begin to evaluate your application.

Well I will definitely have the minimum requirements, but I'm wondering if they won't look at my application if "extra" LORs have not been submitted. I know you just said that Northwestern only cares about the required 3 letters, but if I assigned 4 to them would they still start to process my application when the 3 required ones got there?

But if you do not assign this letter to schools, you will be considered complete.

So you can submit here on the 5th and then see if the letters come in by the time you get the secondaries. If the letter has not come in when you receive the first batch of secondaries, do not assign the letter to those schools. But then if the letter does come in a few days later when you are receiving "screened" secondaries, you can assign it to those schools.

Play it safe with this professor and do not assign it to schools until you see AMCAS receive it.

So right now I have assigned all of my LORs to all of the schools selected. Are you saying that once my primary app is verified by AMCAS, I will be able to go back and assign LORs to schools without any trouble?

I'm not sure if that question made sense, but I'm a little confused about the process. Do schools who require LORs not require them as part of the primary application?

 

[chiapet874]

So right now I have assigned all of my LORs to all of the schools selected. Are you saying that once my primary app is verified by AMCAS, I will be able to go back and assign LORs to schools without any trouble?

I'm not sure if that question made sense, but I'm a little confused about the process. Do schools who require LORs not require them as part of the primary application?

According to the Amcas Manual:

You can continue to add/assign letters after the initial submission of your application but you cannot edit or delete existing information after your initial submission.

So you can submit your primary even if AMCAS does not have any of your LORs (but you need to have filled out the letter entry area, I believe). After you have submitted and processed, you can continue to assign LORs to schools without any trouble.

Basically for the primary, fill in all the spaces you can; all AMCAs needs to begin processing is a filled in primary and a received transcript.

 

[MedPR]

According to the Amcas Manual:



So you can submit your primary even if AMCAS does not have any of your LORs (but you need to have filled out the letter entry area, I believe). After you have submitted and processed, you can continue to assign LORs to schools without any trouble.

Basically for the primary, fill in all the spaces you can; all AMCAs needs to begin processing is a filled in primary and a received transcript.

Ok so pick all the schools I want to apply to and fill all the LOR forms I want, but don't assign them to any schools yet. And just to be sure, by "submitted and processed" you mean "submitted and verified" right? So there is no problem/no special work necessary to assign LORs after the primary has been verified.

 

[chiapet874]

Ok so pick all the schools I want to apply to and fill all the LOR forms I want, but don't assign them to any schools yet. And just to be sure, by "submitted and processed" you mean "submitted and verified" right? So there is no problem/no special work necessary to assign LORs after the primary has been verified.

Yes, I mean submitted and verified. And assigning LOR's after the primary has been verified is simple, exactly the same as if you wanted to assign them BEFORE you submit. The only difference is that AMCAS will send your LORs out right away, as they will not send out LORs if you are not completed processed.

A letter of evaluation is automatically submitted to the medical schools once your application has been processed, the letter has been marked as “received,” and the letter has been assigned to the appropriate school(s).

 

[weezynation]

Well I will definitely have the minimum requirements, but I'm wondering if they won't look at my application if "extra" LORs have not been submitted. I know you just said that Northwestern only cares about the required 3 letters, but if I assigned 4 to them would they still start to process my application when the 3 required ones got there?



So right now I have assigned all of my LORs to all of the schools selected. Are you saying that once my primary app is verified by AMCAS, I will be able to go back and assign LORs to schools without any trouble?

I'm not sure if that question made sense, but I'm a little confused about the process. Do schools who require LORs not require them as part of the primary application?

Yeah that's what I mean. Most schools will wait on all of your letters to arrive, so if you have 4 letters and they only require 3, they will wait to review your app when that 4th recommendation arrives. And you understood correctly about Northwestern...if you assign 4 to them, they will start to review your app as soon as they have the required 3.

Also be sure to go to every website for the schools you apply to in order to make sure they will accept 6 letters because some schools will not accept that many letters.

 

[DAPI]

I'm in a similar situation; however, my "missing" letter would be my committee letter which I don't perceive to reach until Julyish. Should I not assign this letter to schools even though some schools require you to have a committee letter if your university offers the option? I will be sending/assigning my other 4 letters to schools but I would like to know if I should assign the committee letter as well.

Assign the committee letter to all schools and be cautious as to which schools you assign the addition letters. Some schools will not accept them. With the committee letter you are at the mercy of the committee for deterring when your application is complete at each school, but you "must" assign it to all schools. Get your secondaries and then use wait for the committee letter.


**I say "must" because you can get around using it, but I would no recommend it.**

 

[Dan1804]

Your LORs aren't needed until the secondary stage

This, and if it turns out that a letter that you've assigned is not going to be sent, there's an option to notify AMCAS of that.
You can be "complete" with some LORs that still haven't arrived, as long as you have in the letters schools require.
When I applied, I assigned the committee letter to all schools, and added supplementary letters as I went through the secondaries to see which schools would welcome their submission.

 

[MedPR]

Yes, I mean submitted and verified. And assigning LOR's after the primary has been verified is simple, exactly the same as if you wanted to assign them BEFORE you submit. The only difference is that AMCAS will send your LORs out right away, as they will not send out LORs if you are not completed processed.

Ok thanks! I guess I need to go back and unassign LORs until July.

 

[railgun]

Also, just for anyone else in a similar situation, you can mark letters as no longer being sent