Confused about LORs :confused:

[brad22482]

I am sorry if this question has been posted before but I have searched and cannot find a straight answer.
I was talking to my premed advisor about LORs. She told me that she would send out a committee letter to each school that I received a secondary. However, she does not collect and send LORs from personal references like doctors, employers, etc. She told me that I needed to have my personal references (P.R.'s) send the letters to each school.
A. Is this correct, do I have to wait for each secondary to come in and then, for each secondary, ask my P.R.'s to send a letter? Thats going to be a real pain to my P.R.'s if I receive around 7-8 secondarys.
B. Can I just ask my P.R.'s to send me their letters, so I can just xerox them and send them in myself?
C. What extra identification info should my P.R.'s include with each letter. Ex. Name, SSN, School name, etc...

BTW, I received a below average MCAT in April, and I am retaking it in August. Despite having received a "preliminary" secondary application from GW, I am not really expecting to many secondaries until October when the August MCAT is released.

Appreciate any knowledge you can shed,
Brad

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[truckibear]

I am sorry if this question has been posted before but I have searched and cannot find a straight answer.
I was talking to my premed advisor about LORs. She told me that she would send out a committee letter to each school that I received a secondary. However, she does not collect and send LORs from personal references like doctors, employers, etc. She told me that I needed to have my personal references (P.R.'s) send the letters to each school.
A. Is this correct, do I have to wait for each secondary to come in and then, for each secondary, ask my P.R.'s to send a letter? Thats going to be a real pain to my P.R.'s if I receive around 7-8 secondarys.
B. Can I just ask my P.R.'s to send me their letters, so I can just xerox them and send them in myself?
C. What extra identification info should my P.R.'s include with each letter. Ex. Name, SSN, School name, etc...

BTW, I received a below average MCAT in April, and I am retaking it in August. Despite having received a "preliminary" secondary application from GW, I am not really expecting to many secondaries until October when the August MCAT is released.

Appreciate any knowledge you can shed,
Brad

I believe the reason that most schools that offer a committee letter OR not a letter of recommendation service (where they will collect your LORs and send them out for you) is because med schools will usually only require the committee letter OR three/four letters from PRs. If you have a committee letter you usually don't need extra LORs. Some schools may not even want them but some schools will allow you to send a couple extra. From what I heaer some schools are really strict on this or if they receive more than the allotted amount, they will only read the first three (or up to whatever number they allow) and ignore the rest.

A. I think the best thing for you to do is to let your PRs know how many letters you need (ie 10) and provide them with stamped envelopes and they can take care of printing the extra letters and sealing them in the envelopes. Some schools will require that these envelopes have the PR's signature on the seal to indicate that it is confidential (most professors know to do this). Once you receive secondaries, you can send these sealed envelopes out.

B. Some professors may be willing to do this and some may not, due to confidentiality issues. You can ask each PR what they would prefer for you to do. If the PR is ok with you asking for a letter each time you need it, then great.

C. Name and SSN in the letter and school address on the envelope when you send it out.

Good luck!

 

[truckibear]

Forgot to mention that there are also services you can pay for that will collect all your LORs and send them out for you. Don't know of any in particular or how much they cost... try searching around. Anyone know? Do they take a long time? Might be more worth it for you to take care of it on your own.

 

[45408]

http://www.interfolio.com/welcome.cfm

It seems like practically everyone without a school that does it for them uses this, and apparently med schools have no problem with it. They're a third party that holds your letters and will send them out for a (I would hope small) fee.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

http://www.interfolio.com/welcome.cfm

It seems like practically everyone without a school that does it for them uses this, and apparently med schools have no problem with it. They're a third party that holds your letters and will send them out for a (I would hope small) fee.

Ya, I use interfolio and I it.

signing up with the 5 year plan will cost $45, but may prove useful (that's the one I picked.) you get three free deliveries with that plan. each paper (i.e. snail mail) delivery will cost you $5, electronic deliveries (for those schools that accept them, eg GWU) costs $4. The deliveries are basically a package of letters they make for you and you can send all your letters at once for that fee. the package includes a cover sheet which has your name, ssn, amcas id, and briefly explains how interfolio works as a serive to manage and deliver confidential letters of reference.

the 1 year plan costs $15.

 

[C.P. Jones]

BTW, I received a below average MCAT in April, and I am retaking it in August. Despite having received a "preliminary" secondary application from GW, I am not really expecting to many secondaries until October when the August MCAT is released.

I retook in August last year (w/ saying I was on the AMCAS) and I received all of my secondaries way before the MCAT day, so I would still expect them to come in

 

[brad22482]

I believe the reason that most schools that offer a committee letter OR not a letter of recommendation service (where they will collect your LORs and send them out for you) is because med schools will usually only require the committee letter OR three/four letters from PRs. If you have a committee letter you usually don't need extra LORs. Some schools may not even want them but some schools will allow you to send a couple extra. From what I heaer some schools are really strict on this or if they receive more than the allotted amount, they will only read the first three (or up to whatever number they allow) and ignore the rest.

A. I think the best thing for you to do is to let your PRs know how many letters you need (ie 10) and provide them with stamped envelopes and they can take care of printing the extra letters and sealing them in the envelopes. Some schools will require that these envelopes have the PR's signature on the seal to indicate that it is confidential (most professors know to do this). Once you receive secondaries, you can send these sealed envelopes out.

B. Some professors may be willing to do this and some may not, due to confidentiality issues. You can ask each PR what they would prefer for you to do. If the PR is ok with you asking for a letter each time you need it, then great.

C. Name and SSN in the letter and school address on the envelope when you send it out.

Good luck!

Appreciate the response. I need the extra letters b/c UAB requires a committee letter and two additional personal references, while USUHS requires a commitee letter and a letter from someone whom you worked with in a clinical environment.
Sending your P.R.'s stamped envelopes with the sending address already written is a great idea.

Appreciate it,
Brad

 

[TxRunner]

I couldn't find a thread that addressed an issue such as this, so I figured I would post my question here. I am a non traditional applicant and have not been in school for a couple of years. I have one professor to write a LOR, and plan on using my employer for the second. I work in an Athletic Endurance Lab, that happens to be owned by a chiropractor. When I asked him for a LOR he mentioned that a letter from him my hurt me, due to biases in healthcare. What do you guys think? Would a letter from a chiropractor, not be taken seriously?

 

[husky10501]

does n e one know if a letter from a com college prof will work? Mine teaches at both a university and the cc but I had her at the cc.

 

[husky10501]

does n e one know if a letter from a com college prof will work? Mine teaches at both a university and the cc but I had her at the cc.

anyone?

 

[RySerr21]

anyone?

i dont see why it would matter.

 

[RySerr21]

at what point of the application cycle do you send in your LOR?? do you do that with the first AMCAS stuff or do you send it to schools when you fill out your secondary?

 

[husky10501]

at what point of the application cycle do you send in your LOR?? do you do that with the first AMCAS stuff or do you send it to schools when you fill out your secondary?

I want to say that you'll send them with your secondaries.

 

[RySerr21]

i finally got up the courage to ask an MD i was close with for a LOR and he declined!!!!! this is someone i worked with for two summers volunteering and working in his research lab. one summer resulted in two publications!

i was so surprised. he was polite about it, but still .