Confused about LORs

[st3ady]

Hello,

My understanding was that you fill out the cover letter, give the pre stamped envelope addressed to ERAS, and the people who work at ERAS will upload the letters once they receive them, is this correct? I had one LOR writer say he already sent it a long time ago, but I don't see anything on myERAS that says it has been received. I also have 2 more letters in the process of being sent.

If these all happen to magically get lost in the mail, what is the process for having the letter writers upload them? I know that all 3 are very busy doctors that probably don't have the patience for going to some website, registering some account, scanning the letters, and then uploading them. But if it comes down to it, where are the instructions I give them to do this?

Thanks for your help.

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[Dissected]

My school uploads the letters when the doc sends it to them......I thought this was pretty standard.

Where are you having the doc's mail it? ERAS?

 

[gasblaster]

My school uploads the letters when the doc sends it to them......I thought this was pretty standard.

Where are you having the doc's mail it? ERAS?

This. Usually LORs are mailed to the applicants med school, which then uploads it to ERAS.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

The process is slightly different this year.

In all prior years, US grads would send their letters to their medical school office. They would scan them, and upload them electronically.

IMG's would send their letters directly to ERAS. There was often a 4 week turnaround from when the letter was sent, to when it was uploaded. ERAS's website used to have a "we are scanning documents received on XXX" posted, so you knew when it was likely your letters would be in.

This year, slightly different -- or at least I assume so. In the fellowship application process (which started July 1), letter writers can upload their own letters. So, I write my letter, save it as a PDF (in MS Word), then upload directly to ERAS. The cover letter given to me by my residents has specific instructions and an upload code, so the right letter goes to the right place. I'm assuming that this will be the case for the main ERAS match process -- but perhaps not.

That being said, I'm amazed at how poor my faculty are at this. I am pretty certain that I personally uploaded all of the letters for my faculty this year. Next year, I'll probably draft a letter that all residents use telling faculty to simply send them to me directly. So, it won't surprise me if many people can't figure out how it's done, and mail them in anyway.