Damage Control - What do I do?

[Md 2b In TN]

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Hey everyone I found out I might have a huge problem. Found out today that one of the Dr's, who wrote me and LOR, may have sent the wrong letter. Well actually it was his secretary. She mail merged all the schools I applied to, and sent the letters. However, he had written a letter to each school with the schools name in the body. So... every school, but one, I applied to got my LOR with another schools name in it. They aren't sure that this is what happened, but were worried enough to bring it up. What should I do, initiate damage control, if so how? Or just set back and see what happens, she may have actually sent the correct letters out, no way to know with out calling the schools.😕

 

[ewing]

I would just chill. The thing is, schools are used to getting essays that are raving about how badly you want to go to some other school. They know people are human, and they'll often take the kid anyway, if they like his application and he doesn't make too compelling of an argument of why he want to go to school X.

In this case, it's even less of an issue, since it's just your senile old boss...or his secretary...so it doesn't reflect poorly on your organizational skills. At least you have a heads-up, so if an interviewer is like, "so you really want to go to Vanderbilt?" you can laugh uncomfortably and say, "oh...that was just Dr. so-and-so's secretary who accidentaly sent my Vandy letter to everyone...I actually haven't even filled out Vandy's secondary"...or whatever

A med school adcom member told me that LORs mean very little, they mostly skim looking for red flags...but they expect them all to say "yeah, yeah, wonderful kid"

 

[MDmiracle]

I'd call, this is your app and taking responsibility to make sure it's as good as can be is up to you. It's not your fault this happened, but wouldn't it be better to know that it is correct rather than worrying, and besides the schools should be happy that your making the effort to get them an accurate app.

 

[Md 2b In TN]

bump

 

[Adapt]

If they did indeed addressed different schools by other names they're trying to sabotage your application. That is just messed up. I think a school would feel insulted if they saw another school's name there. The best you could do is find out for sure if it did happen and then call and apologize.

That's why it's best that when getting LORs, don't ask them to be specialized for each school but rather generic. Plus, get a LOR service because it helps out better. I don't know why you wanted to specialize it.

 

[Asclepius]

I wouldn't call the schools. There isn't much that you could do to rectify the situation anyway, except perhaps, blaming the secretary, but doing so wouldn't reflect well on you.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, unless the letters actually were substantially different. Most recommenders write a single letter and address the same letter to multiple schools. I'm sure adcoms are used to getting form letters or letters bearing the name of a different school.

I PM'ed you, by the way...

 

[MeowMix]

Really, I wouldn't stress about it. LIke someone said, they expect all your letters to be glowing raving homages to you. It is going to be more confusing to try to straighten it out than to let it go, and they will indeed attribute it to the senility of the writer (the guy is probably at least 40, for goodness' sake).

Having interviewed students and job applicants in other capacities, I personally could not have given a crap if an LOR had the wrong institution name on it.

 

[Wednesday]

If you're really worried about it, maybe the secretary could do the damage control. It's her fault it happened and really has nothing to do with you. She could resend the letter she messed up and tell them to replace it in your file.

 

[Bridaddy]

Just give up man, too hard.

(3 points for those who can quote the movie)

 

[Md 2b In TN]

Originally posted by Slickness
If they did indeed addressed different schools by other names they're trying to sabotage your application. That is just messed up. I think a school would feel insulted if they saw another school's name there. The best you could do is find out for sure if it did happen and then call and apologize.

That's why it's best that when getting LORs, don't ask them to be specialized for each school but rather generic. Plus, get a LOR service because it helps out better. I don't know why you wanted to specialize it.

I didn't want it specialized, that is just the way they did it. Dr wrote the letter included school name in body and generated a letter for every school.

 

[Md 2b In TN]

Well it has been confirmed, i'm f***ed

 

[mmz6]

dude.. relax..

like someone else mentioned..
I would ask the secretary to call a few of the individual schools, identify herself.. and explain the situation... and see how she can rectify the problem...

either way.. no biggie... the LOR still says the same thing about u... so no harm

mmz6

 

[Adapt]

Originally posted by Md 2b In TN
I didn't want it specialized, that is just the way they did it. Dr wrote the letter included school name in body and generated a letter for every school.

That's sucks. I specifically told my recommenders that I was applying both DO and MD so only put "medical program" and make no mention of the school name or type of school.

 

[indo]

The adcoms already know that all the schools on your list got the same letter of rec from you. This is good but I'd still freak out if i was in that situation.

 

[Md 2b In TN]

Well I took some of your advice, after not sleeping last night. I talked to the secretary this am. They are sending the correct letters to all the schools. Do you guys think this is going to kill my app?