Assigning Letters of Rec: Confusing Deadline

[MDPhDGuy]

I've heard that I can assign letters of recommendation after I submit, but on the application it says this:

" You are not required to assign letters of evaluation to a medical school prior to submitting your AMCAS application. However, after you submit your application, letter assignments cannot be changed."

To me this says that I need to decide on the letters before I submit my application, because I won't be able to change it later. Can someone clarify?

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[Ismet]

I've heard that I can assign letters of recommendation after I submit, but on the application it says this:

" You are not required to assign letters of evaluation to a medical school prior to submitting your AMCAS application. However, after you submit your application, letter assignments cannot be changed."

To me this says that I need to decide on the letters before I submit my application, because I won't be able to change it later. Can someone clarify?

It means that if you make a letter assignment and then submit your AMCAS, you cannot change that letter assignment. Whatever you do with LORs before AMCAS submission is locked in once you submit. You can assign new letters after you submit.

 

[bubleeshaark]

So can I submit my application in a few days, without any letter assignemtns. But my letters don't all get in until a few weeks from now....

 

[Noggin]

So can I submit my application in a few days, without any letter assignemtns. But my letters don't all get in until a few weeks from now....

Yes submit the application and don't worry about assigning letters to schools yet. You don't need the letters until secondaries.

 

[bubleeshaark]

OH YAY!!! Cause I have every other part of my app done.

Submits 🙂
Edit:
and I don't have to have my Transcript in yet, right?
and is this the same for the MD and DO applications?

 

[Noggin]

OH YAY!!! Cause I have every other part of my app done.

Submits 🙂
Edit:
and I don't have to have my Transcript in yet, right?
and is this the same for the MD and DO applications?

You need your transcripts marked as "received" in order to get verified. However you do not need your transcript received in order to submit. I have no idea about DO applications I only know about AMCAS.

 

[bubleeshaark]

Thank you.

 

[MDPhDGuy]

So just to be 100% clear:
I uncheck all of the letters of recs from all the schools and then submit, and doing this will allow me to assign letters later?

At that point, will I have to resubmit and wait again for verification, or is it instant?

And finally, once I check a box and hit submit it's permanently checked?

It just seems unsafe to hit the submit button without any letters assigned...to me "letter assignments cannot be changed" sounds like I can't add any letters to schools either

 

[Noggin]

So just to be 100% clear:
I uncheck all of the letters of recs from all the schools and then submit, and doing this will allow me to assign letters later?

At that point, will I have to resubmit and wait again for verification, or is it instant?

And finally, once I check a box and hit submit it's permanently checked?

It just seems unsafe to hit the submit button without any letters assigned...

I did not assign any letters to any schools when I submitted. I did not want to run the risk of making a permanent mistake. Just don't assign any letters and you'll be fine. Deal with all this stuff later on during secondary time. You can add letters later on just like you can add more schools later on.

 

[mvenus929]

At that point, will I have to resubmit and wait again for verification, or is it instant?

You do have to resubmit, but once you're verified, you're verified, you don't have to sit in the line again. So you resubmit, and your application is instantly updated at schools (or it is whenever they download the information from AMCAS).

 

[mirimonster]

So just to be 100% clear:
I uncheck all of the letters of recs from all the schools and then submit, and doing this will allow me to assign letters later?

At that point, will I have to resubmit and wait again for verification, or is it instant?

And finally, once I check a box and hit submit it's permanently checked?

It just seems unsafe to hit the submit button without any letters assigned...to me "letter assignments cannot be changed" sounds like I can't add any letters to schools either

One reason to wait to assign letters of rec is because some schools have very specific requirements for LOR's which you will find out about in the secondaries. When you submit a secondary, go into AMCAS, assign the letters you want for that school and then hit submit application. You can do this as many times as you want/need, but keep in mind that once you submit, you can't take those letters back or make any changes to them, but you can always add letters. You are required to resubmit, but you don't have to wait in line for verification again. It just happens automatically.