Help with Interfolio and AACOMAS

[Darth Revan93]

Hello everyone!

I have a little problem and maybe you guys and gals can help. So all of my letters of recommendation are confidential, except for my LoR from a family physician. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, this physician does not have an email address, so he just mailed the letter to my house. It seems as if there is no way that I can send a letter to AACOMAS if it is not confidential. Do you guys have any tips to help with this situation? This is the only thing holding back my application. Any advice would be great!

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[kamakazi5]

Is there nobody at the office that could send it for them? Somebody in the office surely has an email address.

 

[Coltuna]

Does it have a signature?

 

[Darth Revan93]

Trust me, I tried explaining to the office that it would be easier if they just send it electronically to Interfolio. But they do not use emails, but rather a Patient Portal to communicate with each other and patients.

The letter does have a signature on it. I am tempted to have someone else upload the letter for me so that it can be sent to AACOMAS, but I am unsure of how ethical that would be. I am still not sure how to proceed.

 

[djtallahassee]

Make him an email and send it that way. Let him know and if anyone emails contacting that email you can forward to him. Not shady to me unless you read the letter.


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[Darth Revan93]

So I talked with a representative at Interfolio, and it seems like that unless he is the one to send the letter, it is a breach of confidentiality and possibly illegal. I am not sure if it is wise for me to make an email and send it on his behalf or have someone else send it. I do not want to get blacklisted before even getting into medical school.

 

[djtallahassee]

So I talked with a representative at Interfolio, and it seems like that unless he is the one to send the letter, it is a breach of confidentiality and possibly illegal. I am not sure if it is wise for me to make an email and send it on his behalf or have someone else send it. I do not want to get blacklisted before even getting into medical school.

I mean it's not that much different than if the guy couldn't work a scanner/loading and you were helping. Just don't look at it. You can even make it for him in case he needs it in the future.


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[Coltuna]

So I talked with a representative at Interfolio, and it seems like that unless he is the one to send the letter, it is a breach of confidentiality and possibly illegal. I am not sure if it is wise for me to make an email and send it on his behalf or have someone else send it. I do not want to get blacklisted before even getting into medical school.

The vast majority of my letter writers gave me their letters in-person to read and edit if I wanted to, as well as send them in the mail for them. I used Interfolio and sent all of my letters FOR my letter writers without any problems. Just print off the sheet saying that the letter is confidential and include it in the envelope to be sent in the mail. Overnight it if you want it uploaded that next day. A "confidential" letter simply means you WAIVED YOUR RIGHT to see the letter. If he/she wants to sent you the letter to read, that's his/her choice and is in no way illegal unless you edit the document.

 

[Darth Revan93]

The vast majority of my letter writers gave me their letters in-person to read and edit if I wanted to, as well as send them in the mail for them. I used Interfolio and sent all of my letters FOR my letter writers without any problems. Just print off the sheet saying that the letter is confidential and include it in the envelope to be sent in the mail. Overnight it if you want it uploaded that next day. A "confidential" letter simply means you WAIVED YOUR RIGHT to see the letter. If he/she wants to sent you the letter to read, that's his/her choice and is in no way illegal unless you edit the document.

So basically your letter writers gave you an unsealed letter, and you just placed it in an envelope with the Interfolio cover sheet?

 

[Coltuna]

So basically your letter writers gave you an unsealed letter, and you just placed it in an envelope with the Interfolio cover sheet?

Exactly. Never had any problems. N=1 though. Just make sure it's on official letterhead and signed. As long as you're not editing the final letter to be sent to schools without your letter writer's approval, I see no ethical/legal problems.

Edit: I actually called Interfolio after doing this because it dawned on me, what's keeping people from just writing their own letters and sending them..? The instructions literally just say to put the letter and whatever sheet you print off in an envelope and send them lol. I literally received 5 different answers about what constitutes a "confidential" letter. If you can, have them sign the outside of the envelope somewhere so they can match the signature on the letter. I literally just put them in an envelope, sent them, and they were uploaded, but idk if mine was a unique case.

 

[Darth Revan93]

Exactly. Never had any problems. N=1 though. Just make sure it's on official letterhead and signed. As long as you're not editing the final letter to be sent to schools without your letter writer's approval, I see no ethical/legal problems.

Edit: I actually called Interfolio after doing this because it dawned on me, what's keeping people from just writing their own letters and sending them..? The instructions literally just say to put the letter and whatever sheet you print off in an envelope and send them lol. I literally received 5 different answers about what constitutes a "confidential" letter. If you can, have them sign the outside of the envelope somewhere so they can match the signature on the letter. I literally just put them in an envelope, sent them, and they were uploaded, but idk if mine was a unique case.

Exactly, that is why I am confused about sending it in myself versus having this physician send it in. Who's stopping anybody from sending it in? From what I understand about confidentiality is that the letter has to be sealed and I must have never even touched it. Since the letter is currently unsealed, it seems like it is no longer confidential unless he sends it in himself. Surely Interfolio would realize that the letter was seen by me if I send it with my own address on the envelope, wouldn't they?

 

[DoctorCrush]

I would call interfolio to get a clear direction on how to proceed. They're super friendly. Hope it all works out!

 

[Coltuna]

You call Interfolio about this and you will get 5 different answers depending on who you talk to. While I do agree the staff is extremely helpful, this is an area that they really just don't know based on when I called.


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[Coltuna]

Here is what the person sent back to me when I finally emailed them for clarification:

"Thanks so much for reaching out to us and bringing this to our attention. I am very sorry for the confusion and for the frustration you must have experienced with getting different answers each time you called.

First I would like to clarify what our policy is for mailing letters of recommendation to us. For us to upload the letter as a confidential letter of recommendation it needs to be mailed by your letter writer to us with the document request attached or it can be mailed by the applicant as long as the letter is in a sealed envelope and the letter writer has signed the outside of the envelope. We know sometimes the letter writer will either hand you the letter in an sealed envelope or they will mail it directly to you. We want to be able to accommodate for these instances and make it as easy for you and your letter writers as possible. As long as we can see the letter has not been opened, we can upload it to your account as a confidential letter of recommendation. If we ever have questions on whether or not the letter has been opened or sent directly to us without it being in a sealed envelope we will verify with your letter writer to make sure we can upload the letter as a confidential document."