certified mail

[grasshopper]

Are you guys sending this stuff (AMCAS copies, typed secondaries, non-AMCAS aps, certification pages, etc.) certified so they have to sign for it or just crossing your fingers?

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[md2be06]

I was thinking about sending everything certified, but then I didn't want to risk annoying the admissions offices. They're swamped enough as it is, the last thing they need is to have to sign for every little thing I send them. I figure I'll just put my faith in the postal service, and then call up the schools a couple of weeks later to verify that they received everything. What do you guys think? Also, how expensive is it to send something certified?

 

[algae]

When I sent out my transcript requests, I enclosed a self-addressed postcard on which I wrote "please confirm that you have sent my transcript by sending this card". It worked like a charm and relieved my concerns that my transcript requests weren't filled...

 

[gower]

So many applicants obsess so much over trivial details on their applications but then want to save money or not bother admissions offices. Not trivial is knowing that what you send has been received.

There is a concept called "protecting your investment." You buy insurance to indemnify for loss of expensive or important items. Confirmation that what you send to AMCAS and medical schools has arrived is something worth the investment. A clerk merely signs for incoming certified mail; why now balk at the extra cost to you?

Calling admissions from time to time is far more likely to annoy because whoever checks to see if your AMCAS application/secondary applications/MCAT scores/letters have arrived has to be someone, above the level of a clerk, who is authorized to access the files.

 

[tbachi]

To send a business size envelope that weighs within the $.34 cent limit of postage via certified mail with a signature required at delivery.... it will cost you $3.74.

 

[kris]

Here's a link to the "Delivery Confirmation" service that I sometimes use.
It's through the US postal Service, and does not require a signature. If I remember correctly, you can track it online and by phone. I like this service a lot!
http://www.usps.com/shipping/deliver.htm

 

[kris]

Let me add here that I don't think you can purchase delivery confirmation on a standard first-class letter--you'd have to do the Priority Mail thing, and then add "delivery confirmation" to that:

Priority Mail is now 3.50, plus 40 cents for the Delivery Confirmation for a total of $3.90.

 

[jcd311]

When I was going through this whole process, I overnighted my applications. I also enclosed a postcard to be returned to me when my file had been completed, since I wanted to be sure that my reccommendations also made it.