I have this irrational fear.....

[deleted1139416]

...that my letter writer will accidentally upload someone else's letter into my ERAS letter request. One of my attendings told me that he does 30 letters every year and cranks them all out in a day in August before ERAS opening (I'm assuming he gives everyone the same letter except for a couple tweaks here and there). Given his farsightedness I'm sure he might end up making a mistake.

Anyways, is this a legitimate concern? Does ERAS at least check to make sure that the applicant on the letter is accurate? Not sure if Interfolio/Amcas did the same for med school apps.

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[M&L]

have you received any interviews yet?

 

[GoSpursGo]

No I don't think there is any check on the other side. Obviously once you start getting interviews, someone from a program (probably your home program) would alert you and then you could fix the problem.

I can't fathom that this would seriously impact your application.

 

[wysdoc]

@HipiMochi aren't you still an MS 3?
Please don't spend your time dwelling on these future "what-ifs"

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If it didn't happen with your letters to get into medical school... don't fret over this.

 

[deleted1139416]

@HipiMochi aren't you still an MS 3?
Please don't spend your time dwelling on these future "what-ifs"

The thought occurred to me yesterday when I was filling out the ERAS LOR request

 

[Taddy Mason]

In 4 years of reviewing and interviewing residency applicants I’ve only seen this happen once. We let the applicant know and he/she said multiple other programs had given her/him a heads-up. So it’s certainly a possibility but rare overall.

 

[MDMechEngr]

I would be concerned with the letter being too generic because he is cranking out 30 of them at the same time.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

I would be concerned with the letter being too generic because he is cranking out 30 of them at the same time.

This. Your worry should not be if the wrong letter gets uploaded as that mistake can be fixed. The worry should be about getting a generic, ehh letter when you will be competing with other students who got glowing personalized letters that the writers took their time with

 

[GoSpursGo]

The thought occurred to me yesterday when I was filling out the ERAS LOR request

... why are you filling out an ERAS LOR request in December? If this is for next year, I will say there is a zero percent chance that they will still have their email link in 9 months when they're actually filling this out.

 

[deleted1139416]

... why are you filling out an ERAS LOR request in December? If this is for next year, I will say there is a zero percent chance that they will still have their email link in 9 months when they're actually filling this out.

I filled out the request form but I won’t actually email it to him until July.

 

[deleted1139416]

I would be concerned with the letter being too generic because he is cranking out 30 of them at the same time.

This. Your worry should not be if the wrong letter gets uploaded as that mistake can be fixed. The worry should be about getting a generic, ehh letter when you will be competing with other students who got glowing personalized letters that the writers took their time with

I’m only gonna use it for the hospital he actually works at! Not for every program I apply to. So even if it is generic it’s fine cause I’m sure the PD will call him.

 

[DJKitty]

So....not to increase your anxiety, but something like this did happen to me during residency applications. It wasn't a letter, but my photograph. My school had uploaded someone else's photo as mine and I kept getting confused looks and questions about who I was at interviews. One program director finally told me about the error and my school fixed it and I went on to have a normal application cycle, so in the end, no harm was done.

 

[Rachapkis]

Insecurities (and well founded fears) exacerbated by the medical school admission process are real. Do you best to deal with them effectively and efficiently and move on...