Benefits, if any, of having alumni send letters?

[purdey]

Hi All!

I haven't heard back from my two top schools (but have survived big rejection waves). I know alumni from both, they're not really "known" or big donors, but still I think couldn't hurt might help, right? I'm under the impression I should throw everything I've got at the school, what do you think?

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[Goro]

Please have pity on those of us who have to read these things.

No, they're not going to help.

 

[wysdoc]

New letters that don't come in through your official AMCAS portal are not going to make a difference now.

 

[eigen]

If these are people who are well positioned to evaluate your work, then why did you not include them in your original letters of rec?

Or are these people who know you but aren't positioned to evaluate your work, and you want them to just... write a letter of support? This would look like you're asking for different consideration than the average applicant, to me, and would not be a positive.

 

[purdey]

If these are people who are well positioned to evaluate your work, then why did you not include them in your original letters of rec?

Or are these people who know you but aren't positioned to evaluate your work, and you want them to just... write a letter of support? This would look like you're asking for different consideration than the average applicant, to me, and would not be a positive.

there is one person I have worked with this semester and shadowed multiple times, so I didn't get a letter of rec from him since he didn't get to know me/see me in a clinical setting until recently. Is it worth asking him if he would be willing to reach out on maybe a less formal way, like an email to the dean?

 

[eigen]

Define "worked with". Is this a person who supervised you doing clinical work?

Letters from someone you shadowed are, in my experience, less than useless.

Is it worth asking him if he would be willing to reach out on maybe a less formal way, like an email to the dean?

God no. This 100% doubles down on the idea of it looking like you're trying to play by a different set of rules than other applicants.

 

[Goro]

there is one person I have worked with this semester and shadowed multiple times, so I didn't get a letter of rec from him since he didn't get to know me/see me in a clinical setting until recently. Is it worth asking him if he would be willing to reach out on maybe a less formal way, like an email to the dean?

That's just going to annoy the dean. Look, we're trying to tell you that additional letters aren't going to help.

 

[purdey]

That's just going to annoy the dean. Look, we're trying to tell you that additional letters aren't going to help.

Understood. I was answering eigen’s question as to why I didn’t get a letter of recommendation from them in the first place. Re the email suggestion: I thought something short and sweet would be less annoying than a long formal letter at this stage. I wasn’t trying to seem like I wasn’t taking your advice.
I appreciate the guidance and your patience as I navigate this process for the first time.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

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[Med Ed]

Re the email suggestion: I thought something short and sweet would be less annoying than a long formal letter at this stage.

Less annoying is still annoying.

Every year admissions offices around the country receive unsolicited calls and emails regarding certain applicants. Usually they come from people who think they're VIPs for some reason. They try to throw their (often non-existent) weight around on behalf of applicants who are almost uniformly below average. It's more than annoying, it's pathetic.

You have spent years building an application that has already been conveyed via AMCAS and secondaries. Finding some rando alumni to say nice-sounding things about you won't help your case. Just keep building your credentials until you have an acceptance. Good luck.

 

[gyngyn]

I haven't heard back from my two top schools (but have survived big rejection waves). I know alumni from both, they're not really "known" or big donors, but still I think couldn't hurt might help, right? I'm under the impression I should throw everything I've got at the school, what do you think?

We have received endorsements from the governor of the state (not the current one), well-known actors, football coaches and many more celebrities. Some of them were mildly entertaining, but none of them did a lick of good (I did keep the one from a previous governor...).