I recently found out that there are certain phases in my secondaries that are very similar to one my letters of recommendation. How bad is this?

[hihihohohaha84]

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This is a very strong letter co-written by two mentors, whom I have been working with for the past 2 years. They have also been helping me revising my apps and such. I recently found out that certain phases they helped me edit my essays (which were already submitted) are very similar if not almost identical to the letter they wrote me. I immediately had a panic attack finding out about that... How bad can this look to ADCOM? I truly do not want them to think that there is something shady going on with my whole application...

 

[PickaGodnPray]

The situation cannot be changed now so try to focus your energy on more productive outlets (like secondaries). I doubt this will end up being a deal breaker unless the overlap is really egregious (I am talking multiple lines/paragraph).

 

[AnatomyAndAnonymity]

If it makes you feel better, one of my letters came from my volunteer program coordinator who I've known for over two years, gotten fairly close to, and has seen me taking 10x my usual number of shifts over this summer to make up for a volunteer shortage and she:

• Completely copy/pasted the description I used for the activity in my application
• VERY obviously copied/pasted the whole thing from ChatGPT

Thankfully this was fixed before the final draft was sent but my jaw was on the floor and my crashing was out lol I love her but JAIL!!!!!

 

[hihihohohaha84]

If it makes you feel better, one of my letters came from my volunteer program coordinator who I've known for over two years, gotten fairly close to, and has seen me taking 10x my usual number of shifts over this summer to make up for a volunteer shortage and she:

• Completely copy/pasted the description I used for the activity in my application
• VERY obviously copied/pasted the whole thing from ChatGPT

Thankfully this was fixed before the final draft was sent but my jaw was on the floor and my crashing was out lol I love her but JAIL!!!!!

Well, they already submitted it so there is nothing much can be done now, unfortunately. I am glad you fixed it before the letter was sent out.

 

[hihihohohaha84]

The situation cannot be changed now so try to focus your energy on more productive outlets (like secondaries). I doubt this will end up being a deal breaker unless the overlap is really egregious (I am talking multiple lines/paragraph).

I read through the thing and the overlap is not too bad.

 

[AnatomyAndAnonymity]

Well, they already submitted it so there is nothing much can be done now, unfortunately. I am glad you fixed it before the letter was sent out.

While the stress is definitely understandable, I don't think adcoms will be cross-referencing your rec letters to your essays to catch any similarities. According to infinite monkey theorem, if you asked a monkey to write your letter of recommendation and gave them infinite opportunities, one of those random letters would be an exact word-for-word version of your personal statement, and I don't know if that would be harder to explain than the much more likely gibberish letters. Random example, but hopefully the thought of a monkey sitting at a computer to write a rec letter for med school is at least mildly amusing. : )

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What phrase is this? Were your references saying you got... ?

 

[hihihohohaha84]

While the stress is definitely understandable, I don't think adcoms will be cross-referencing your rec letters to your essays to catch any similarities. According to infinite monkey theorem, if you asked a monkey to write your letter of recommendation and gave them infinite opportunities, one of those random letters would be an exact word-for-word version of your personal statement, and I don't know if that would be harder to explain than the much more likely gibberish letters. Random example, but hopefully the thought of a monkey sitting at a computer to write a rec letter for med school is at least mildly amusing. : )

Amazing example, and thank you for the reassurance.

 

[Moko]

This is a very strong letter co-written by two mentors, whom I have been working with for the past 2 years. They have also been helping me revising my apps and such. I recently found out that certain phases they helped me edit my essays (which were already submitted) are very similar if not almost identical to the letter they wrote me. I immediately had a panic attack finding out about that... How bad can this look to ADCOM? I truly do not want them to think that there is something shady going on with my whole application...

I doubt this will be noticed or brought up, but if it is, just be honest and let them know that your mentors offered to read through your application and provided some advice that you incorporated. There's nothing shady about that, that's what good mentors do.

If the amount of overlap is quite significant, it's also conceivable that some mentors liberally utilized the applicant's essays (often provided by the applicant for reference) when writing their LOR. Just my thoughts.