Interfolio? Letters of Recommendation?

[Coco28]

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Some users from this forum have recommended using Interfolio to store letters of rec. since I will not be apply to med school until 2016. I just asked one professor for my first letter of recommendation and she has agreed! (Yay!) She asked what is needed though, and since I am totally new at this I'm not sure.

Does she just need to write the letter and upload it to Interfolio? There's no charge for professors uploading letters is there?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[el_duderino]

Sign up for an account at Interfolio. It costs some fairly small amount of money. Through Interfolio you can request a letter of recommendation. You provide the professor's contact details, and Interfolio emails them a link they can use to upload their letter. It's a pretty great process. There's no charge for the professor, though they will have to sign up for an account if they don't have one.

The email also contains a PDF cover letter which the professor can use to simply mail the letter to Interfolio instead of signing up. In other words, they print the LOR and mail it along with the cover page PDF to Interfolio.

 

[Coco28]

Thank you for your response! That helps a lot!

 

[Uafl112]

[QUOTE=" There's no charge for the professor, though they will have to sign up for an account if they don't have one.[/QUOTE]

Are you sure that they will have to do that? I had one professor send me one and she never mentioned that she signed up for an interfolio account. hmmmmm, perhaps she already had one?

 

[BeMD13]

When you print the cover letter, make sure you use the email over the mail version. That form gets emailed to them immediately (so make sure they are expecting it!) and you can also print a copy of the same form after it is emailed. When I did it, I printed off the mail version and my professor said he wanted to upload a PDF. I had to delete the original and create a new request. Since each request has a unique ID, it can get a little confusing and the wrong form could end up sent. After that, I just asked each person if they were willing to write a letter and then arranged a meeting with them. I then sent the email the day before meeting and the next day I brought a folder with my CV, narrative draft, sample letters of rec, and the copy of the form.

 

[el_duderino]

[QUOTE=" There's no charge for the professor, though they will have to sign up for an account if they don't have one.

Are you sure that they will have to do that? I had one professor send me one and she never mentioned that she signed up for an interfolio account. hmmmmm, perhaps she already had one?[/QUOTE]

A lot of professors already have an account, yeah. But the email also gives them the option to simply print out the barcoded PDF and mail it along with the letter, no account needed.

 

[mtbski]

Also make sure they write it on official letterhead

 

[Coco28]

Thanks everyone for the tips!
I will be sure to consider all of your advice!

 

[BeMD13]

I forgot to add that the email version can be mailed in too if they change their minds. That's why I said just to choose that one.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Also make sure they write it on official letterhead

I'm gonna reiterate this one. You're letter is practically USELESS if its not on official letterhead.