Can I still Assign recommendation letters to schools after being complete.

[pre-spring]

Basically the question above. So, I submitted my secondaries to a couple of schools already and one of my letter writers whose letter isn't required but something that I would like to include just contacted me saying they can submit the letter this week. Initially they were really busy and couldn't submit the letter until late August, so I didn't assign them to any school and went ahead and submitted my secondaries and everything and got the completion email from them. So, I was wondering if I can now assign their letter when they submit to the schools I was complete at. Also wondering if doing this would change my completion date and affect when I would be viewed and all, honestly if my completion date changes to 3 weeks later and its going to affect when my app is going to be reviewed then I'd rather not send it in.

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[pre-spring]

Can someone answer this. Really confused on what to do.

Thanks.

 

[itsfun2learn]

Basically the question above. So, I submitted my secondaries to a couple of schools already and one of my letter writers whose letter isn't required but something that I would like to include just contacted me saying they can submit the letter this week. Initially they were really busy and couldn't submit the letter until late August, so I didn't assign them to any school and went ahead and submitted my secondaries and everything and got the completion email from them. So, I was wondering if I can now assign their letter when they submit to the schools I was complete at. Also wondering if doing this would change my completion date and affect when I would be viewed and all, honestly if my completion date changes to 3 weeks later and its going to affect when my app is going to be reviewed then I'd rather not send it in.

Yes, I believe so.

One of my writers didn't get their letter attached to my committee letter, somehow. I sent it in as an individual letter like a week later after several schools had marked me complete. I was told that if my application had already been assessed, there was no guarantee that anyone would go back and look at the new letter, but that anyone going forward would see it all.

 

[wysdoc]

Can someone answer this. Really confused on what to do.

Thanks.

Yes, you can assign letters later. Be sure to check the guidelines of your school to see how many minimum and maximum letters they will accept.

 

[pre-spring]

Thanks for letting me know. I'm just confused if the completion date is going to effect when they're going to review my app. I was complete like mid July, if I send in the letter now, is it going to change my completion date from July to August?

 

[SooConfused]

Thanks for letting me know. I'm just confused if the completion date is going to effect when they're going to review my app. I was complete like mid July, if I send in the letter now, is it going to change my completion date from July to August?

No. Once you are complete they don't mark you "incomplete" because you decided to add something to your file. As @itsfun2learn said, if you have already been reviewed, they are not going to go back and re-review you with your new letter, but, if not, the letter will be there when they do look at your file.

 

[deleted1139574]

No. Once you are complete they don't mark you "incomplete" because you decided to add something to your file. As @itsfun2learn said, if you have already been reviewed, they are not going to go back and re-review you with your new letter, but, if not, the letter will be there when they do look at your file.

Here is hypothethical. Lets say you are considered complete at like 8/1 and your get LOR in 8/14. Will they review app within this time and thus disregard new LOR

 

[SooConfused]

Here is hypothethical. Lets say you are considered complete at like 8/1 and your get LOR in 8/14. Will they review app within this time and thus disregard new LOR

It's impossible to know for sure, but anything is possible once you are marked complete. Files are reviewed everyday. Some files are probably reviewed within a few days of being complete while others literally sit untouched for months on end.

Even so, it just doesn't matter. As long as you can upload the supplemental submission, it won't hurt to do so. Either it will be considered, or it won't.

This goes for anything -- updates, new grades, new MCAT scores, new LORs, whatever. The important thing for OP is that once you are marked complete, schools generally don't go back simply because candidates choose to add things to their files.

 

[deleted1139574]

It's impossible to know for sure, but anything is possible once you are marked complete. Files are reviewed everyday. Some files are probably reviewed within a few days of being complete while others literally sit untouched for months on end.

Even so, it just doesn't matter. As long as you can upload the supplemental submission, it won't hurt to do so. Either it will be considered, or it won't.

This goes for anything -- updates, new grades, new MCAT scores, new LORs, whatever. The important thing for OP is that once you are marked complete, schools generally don't go back simply because candidates choose to add things to their files.

Ok, but when you say they dont go back that's after review right? They will see it if they never reviewed app in first place after it was marked complete.

 

[SooConfused]

Ok, but when you say they dont go back that's after review right? They will see it if they never reviewed app in first place after it was marked complete.

Yes, they see everything attached to the file. Whether they will take the time to read a LOR that goes above and beyond their requirements is another story. Some schools will while others won't. This just isn't worth stressing about because it's entirely beyond your control, and very unlikely to tip the scales in the context of an entire application.

 

[Blueshirtguy]

I also added a letter 5 days after being complete at many schools. Should I email them to make sure they redownload the app before reviewing it? @wysdoc

 

[SooConfused]

I also added a letter 5 days after being complete at many schools. Should I email them to make sure they redownload the app before reviewing it? @wysdoc

No. They don't download your app. It's a real-time interactive portal. If your LOR is assigned to the school, it is there for them to see.

 

[Blueshirtguy]

No. They don't download your app. It's a real-time interactive portal. If your LOR is assigned to the school, it is there for them to see.

Oh really? That's a relief! I was about to type up 30 emails. I could have sworn I heard a faculty member on here saying they downloaded apps, and sometimes additional LORs don't make it through.

 

[SooConfused]

Oh really? That's a relief! I was about to type up 30 emails. I could have sworn I heard a faculty member on here saying they downloaded apps, and sometimes additional LORs don't make it through.

I'm not sure where that would be coming from. Maybe they were talking about downloading files from the portal so they could perform off-line reviews?

My understanding is that AMCAS is a closed system that schools access through log in credentials, and that they slice and dice and sort through whatever data elements they want for each of their applicants.

I am pretty sure that AMCAS is just one big database that has all of our applications, and individual schools get permissioned for individual applicants based on whether they are listed on your primary.

There is no way that schools are literally managing thousands of individual files, one for each of their applicants. Same thing with the secondary portals.

 

[Blueshirtguy]

I'm not sure where that would be coming from. Maybe they were talking about downloading files from the portal so they could perform off-line reviews?

My understanding is that AMCAS is a closed system that schools access through log in credentials, and that they slice and dice and sort through whatever data elements they want for each of their applicants.

I am pretty sure that AMCAS is just one big database that has all of our applications, and individual schools get permissioned for individual applicants based on whether they are listed on your primary.

There is no way that schools are literally managing thousands of individual files, one for each of their applicants. Same thing with the secondary portals.

Well I guess I'll just try not to worry about to too much. Thanks for the help and good luck if you're also applying!

 

[SooConfused]

Well I guess I'll just try not to worry about to too much. Thanks for the help and good luck if you're also applying!

No problem! I've already been through it, and am just trying to share what little I know about the process.

Trust me, LORs are a big nothing for the vast majority of applicants, since they are uniformly good, with rare exceptions. Most people won't agree to write them if they won't be good, and most people won't ask for LORs from people they are not confident will write a good one.