Assigning LORs- don't have everything in on time...

[ej37]

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Hey all, need a bit of help with LOR strategy.

I am applying to a highly competitive field (ENT), and right now have 2 solid ENT letters, am expecting 2 more- 1 more should come next week, and 1 more should come in October/November sometime.

I was hoping to have 3 solid ENT letters to submit tomorrow, but right I only have 2. I do have a letter from an OB/GYN that I worked with, though, and was considering using this instead.

How important is it for me to be "complete" as soon possible? I was thinking of assigning the 2 ENT letters I do have, the OB/GYN letter I have, and the ENT letter I am expecting next week to all programs. That way I will be complete at all programs by tomorrow, and when my letter comes in next week I should be good. Then, I was going to un-assign the OB/GYN letter and assign the 4th ENT letter once it came out- hence giving me 4 ENT letters total. My only fear is that this will give me technically 5 letters total at some places- do I need to worry about them potentially throwing away one of my important ENT letters?

I realize I am being overly paranoid here, but I am debating what to do (if anything) with that OB/GYN letter, as I really wanted to have a complete application tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

 

[gutonc]

Hey all, need a bit of help with LOR strategy.

I am applying to a highly competitive field (ENT), and right now have 2 solid ENT letters, am expecting 2 more- 1 more should come next week, and 1 more should come in October/November sometime.

I was hoping to have 3 solid ENT letters to submit tomorrow, but right I only have 2. I do have a letter from an OB/GYN that I worked with, though, and was considering using this instead.

How important is it for me to be "complete" as soon possible? I was thinking of assigning the 2 ENT letters I do have, the OB/GYN letter I have, and the ENT letter I am expecting next week to all programs. That way I will be complete at all programs by tomorrow, and when my letter comes in next week I should be good. Then, I was going to un-assign the OB/GYN letter and assign the 4th ENT letter once it came out- hence giving me 4 ENT letters total. My only fear is that this will give me technically 5 letters total at some places- do I need to worry about them potentially throwing away one of my important ENT letters?

Assign what you have and leave room for the other 2 ENT letters. ERAS changed the way it works this year and you can no longer unassign letters. Actually, that's not quite true...you can unassign them, but it doesn't actually do anything, and you won't be able to upload a 5th letter to those programs.

 

[ej37]

WOW, so glad you responded. I can't thank you enough for your help- you know far more than any of the admins at my school. Really appreciate all your posts

 

[Knicks]

Assign what you have and leave room for the other 2 ENT letters. ERAS changed the way it works this year and you can no longer unassign letters. Actually, that's not quite true...you can unassign them, but it doesn't actually do anything, and you won't be able to upload a 5th letter to those programs.

I was gonna make a post asking about unassigning letters; I have all my letters finalized on MyEras, but not all of them have been uploaded to the ERAS Post Office. How do I "leave room" for those letters that I'm still waiting for to be uploaded?

Also, let's say a week from now, an LoR get uploaded to the ERAS Post Office and I assign it to a program to which I already applied, will the Program know/see the newly uploaded letter?