How Many Letters of Rec is TOO Many?

[praying4MD]

My pre-health professions committee requires 5-7 letters of rec to be evaluated. I had 8 letters, 7 of which are very strong, but I really think that is way too many to send to med schools. I called a couple of schools and they said that they usually don't like too many if they are mailed individually, but they won't hold it against me and don't mind if they are part of my composite file at my univ. Just for reference, how many are you sending? How many should I send and how many is TOO many?

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[moo]

I have 3 very strong letters from profs who know me very well but my school doesn't have a premed committee.

 

[Amy B]

We have been told by our pre-med advisor to have no more than 6. 3-5 is a good number. That is why you really need to narrow the list down to the very best and the ones that add something different or unique about you. Look for a letter that sets you apart from the crowd.

That might be hard to do if you elected to not be able to view your letters. I don't know what mine say but when I asked for the letters I gave the writers my personal statement and asked them to include anything they thought that would set me apart from the rest of the applicants.

 

[fishtolive]

at my school, the premed committee wants at least 3-5 strong letters...they make a composite which, at my school, basically means they cut and paste for you so i ended up having 13 recommendations (5 which were extremely strong, and the rest to show i'm well rounded and all that stuff)...my advisor finished my letter two weeks ago and told me having so many to choose from made it extremely strong and gave it depth...he actually threw one out completely...also, i don't know how they work it elsewhere, but give possible recommendation writers as much info on you as possible (and not just a simple resume) so you DO NOT have to see the letter...from what i know, med schools are aware of whether or not you've seen your rcs and then they ask...so why were you concerned about what mr. x would write about you...not confident?