Can a letter of recommendation use e-letterhead and an e-signature?

[pithy84]

Can an MD letter of recommendation use e-letterhead (a Word .DOC with an image of the school seal, etc.) and an e-signature (a .PNG of the pen-and-ink signature scanned at a prior date)?

One of my letter writers has these things all set to go, and it is more convenient for her, but she said she can also print it, sign it with pen, and scan it. She pointed out that it will actually look better if she doesn't print-sign-scan, because there won't be any hairs or specs of dirt. She also pointed out that it will look more authentic because this is how she does all her letters for other purposes.

Also, is there a *~*~*~* Official Letters of Recommendation 2016-2017 *~*~*~* thread? We have such threads for AMCAS, Work/Activities, and so many other things, but not LoRs.

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[pithy84]

Update: I have found undergrad institutions that require pen-and-ink signatures (University of Washington Prehealth Office, for example), but I have not found any MD programs that require it. I have found MD programs that explicitly permit e-signatures if they look like pen. Also, the "penalty" for a missing signature is that they call the letter writer and/or call me, which seems not too bad, we can fix that in 5 days or less via a Targeted Letter.

I see stories of letters not having letterhead being rejected, but I see absolutely zero actual stories of letters with pen-like e-signatures causing problems in the real world.

 

[pithy84]

Further update: Although I am not sure, I think the worst case scenario is that a school calls me and/or the letter writer to request either a pen-and-ink signed copy or just to confirm with the letter writer over the phone "yes, I wrote that and used an e-signature". If it is one of several letters it will not delay the process and they will not actually doubt the validity of the letter.

Also, I definitely cannot find any MD programs that say they don't take e-signatures, I can only find policies that explicitly permit them or do not specify.

I hope nobody complains, because I told her to use an e-signature.