Interfolio questions....

[YA7ES]

I am new to interfolio and so is my school (we have a md school affiliated with my under-grad institution, so they don't place DOs very often).

Anyone have any general guidelines?
Do i have to create an account, along with my school in order for them to upload letters?
Does it cost money??

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[123165]

I am new to interfolio and so is my school (we have a md school affiliated with my under-grad institution, so they don't place DOs very often).

Anyone have any general guidelines?
Do i have to create an account, along with my school in order for them to upload letters?
Does it cost money??

I am not sure what the MD affiliation has to do with anything. My school does as well. Until recently a ot of amcas schools used interfolio too.

You create an account and the writers can send the letters via snail mail with the cover letter you are given by interfolio (for each letter specifically) or the writer can start an account and upload the letter.

You then tell interfolio where to send the letters.
I highly recommend it.

 

[YA7ES]

I have a letter service at my school and they have all of my LORs. Can I have them send a packet of my LORs to interfolio??? or does each author need to mail them individually?
Also, can the letters be copies? or does it need to be the original document with the author's original signature.

thanks

 

[Chocolate Bear]

I have a letter service at my school and they have all of my LORs. Can I have them send a packet of my LORs to interfolio??? or does each author need to mail them individually?
Also, can the letters be copies? or does it need to be the original document with the author's original signature.

thanks

Why don't you just have your school send your letters to the schools to which you're applying?

Why are you creating a middle man out of Interfolio and making this more difficult, convoluted, and costly?


And, yes, Interfolio costs money for each packet sent to each school.

 

[123165]

Why don't you just have your school send your letters to the schools to which you're applying?

Why are you creating a middle man out of Interfolio and making this more difficult, convoluted, and costly?


And, yes, Interfolio costs money for each packet sent to each school.

I felt like it was reasonably affordable. 4$ for an electronic package and $6 for snail mail. This is regardless of how many letters you send to each school. I think they surcharge for over 200 pages or something.

It cost me ~84 dollars to send my letters. Then $84 again when a writer sent a letter to interfolio after not hearing from them for ages. It was an excellent letter (accroding to her), and worth the added cost to get it in.

I could not handle having my school do it, I know how slow they work. Interfolio send everything that day or the next.

As for the answer to your question, I don't know. I would call interfolio and ask about whether the letters have to come straight from the authors.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

I could not handle having my school do it, I know how slow they work. Interfolio send everything that day or the next.

Good point. I didn't have any issues with my school, so that didn't really cross my mind.

As far as sending whole packets and copies of letters, I'm pretty sure that's fine. Look over the rules when you sign up. If it doesn't say anything in there, I think they pretty much just take whatever you send them. They're *your* letters and you're paying for them to house them. I think that gives them a hands-off policy, but I could be wrong. I know when I wrote some letters for applicants, I really didn't have any rules. I just had options for different things, but no stipulations.

 

[csmittyB]

I have a letter service at my school and they have all of my LORs. Can I have them send a packet of my LORs to interfolio??? or does each author need to mail them individually?
Also, can the letters be copies? or does it need to be the original document with the author's original signature.

thanks

The school may be willing to do this. My school refused (I tried to this today). Their excuse was that they send PDF's. When I pointed out that they send paper copies to the Optometry letter service, they just said that they don't send to Interfolio. When I asked why they send to virtual evals and not interfolio they said it is because the school is subscribed to virtual evals. My schools advising and letter service are useless.

If your school is willing, email interfolio about your situation. They sent me a form to give to the school.

 

[csmittyB]

Why don't you just have your school send your letters to the schools to which you're applying?

Why are you creating a middle man out of Interfolio and making this more difficult, convoluted, and costly?


And, yes, Interfolio costs money for each packet sent to each school.

As to why am I trying to get everything to Interfolio? My school doesn't offer a premedical advisory committee letter and the advisors do not write letters on behalf of the students. They also don't send specific letters to specific schools. Which means I am stuck meeting the letter requirements of each school i.e Dean letter for PCOMs, 1 science faculty letter for school A, 2 science faculty letters for school B, letter from employer (I've been out of school for 2+ years) for school C. Thankfully I work for most of my letter writers so it is not a huge deal to have them send a copy to interfolio (it is just annoying).

 

[Chocolate Bear]

As to why am I trying to get everything to Interfolio? My school doesn't offer a premedical advisory committee letter and the advisors do not write letters on behalf of the students. They also don't send specific letters to specific schools. Which means I am stuck meeting the letter requirements of each school i.e Dean letter for PCOMs, 1 science faculty letter for school A, 2 science faculty letters for school B, letter from employer (I've been out of school for 2+ years) for school C. Thankfully I work for most of my letter writers so it is not a huge deal to have them send a copy to interfolio (it is just annoying).

I was actually curious about the OP, who seemed to have a pre med department or the equivalent that was holding onto the letters.

 

[Mike Lovell]

Hello guys,

My name is Mike and I am a member of Interfolio's Washington, D.C. based staff. I monitor these forums and like to jump in from time to time when I feel that I can assist in the understanding of our products and services.

Regarding document transfer from your alma mater to Interfolio, rest assured that you may do so by downloading and filling out this transfer form: http://www.interfolio.com/faq/documents/transfer_form.pdf

Please fill out the form using the information from your account and submit it to your career center. Your career center will send us your documents and we will have them uploaded into your account and available for use 1-3 business days after receipt, guaranteed.

Pricing can be a sensitive subject for many students, but we believe that Interfolio is well worth our current price structure. Our processes are designed to make the management and delivery of credential documents more efficient and less stressful, and I encourage you to give me a call so that I can walk you through our offerings.

I hope this has provided a little bit of clarity, and I hope to continue our dialogue on here as much as possible.

Best,
Mike
(202)223-3358x207
[email protected]

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Thanks for the help, Mike!!

 

[csmittyB]

Regarding document transfer from your alma mater to Interfolio, rest assured that you may do so by downloading and filling out this transfer form: http://www.interfolio.com/faq/documents/transfer_form.pdf

Please fill out the form using the information from your account and submit it to your career center. Your career center will send us your documents and we will have them uploaded into your account and available for use 1-3 business days after receipt, guaranteed.

I tried this. My school refused

 

[123165]

I tried this. My school refused

That is nuts, they are your damn letters. Schools make a difficult process more difficult, and it pisses me off. That and all the advisors who are just clueless. Maybe Mike will call your school.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

That is nuts, they are your damn letters.

Yeah but a waiver was probably signed, relinquishing rights. It's a matter of control and confidentiality. Mostly control, probably, in this case.

You can always re-request your letters from the authors. Just tell them you've decided to go with a third party service and that the school is holding them hostage. They'll usually oblige and send them to Interfolio without much hassle.

 

[Semicolon]

The school may be willing to do this. My school refused (I tried to this today). Their excuse was that they send PDF's. When I pointed out that they send paper copies to the Optometry letter service, they just said that they don't send to Interfolio. When I asked why they send to virtual evals and not interfolio they said it is because the school is subscribed to virtual evals. My schools advising and letter service are useless.

If your school is willing, email interfolio about your situation. They sent me a form to give to the school.

What's wrong with VirtualEvals? My school used VE and had no issues...

 

[csmittyB]

Yeah but a waiver was probably signed, relinquishing rights. It's a matter of control and confidentiality. Mostly control, probably, in this case.

No waiver or confidentiality excuses were given. I was told that they subscribe to VirtualEvals which is why they wouldn't send to interfolio. They also said that they couldn't send the letter to interfolio because they send letters by PDF, however, on the letter service website, they state that they send paper letters to the optometry application letter service.

What's wrong with VirtualEvals? My school used VE and had no issues...

There is nothing wrong with VirtualEvals. My issue is that VirtualEvals sends the whole packet of letters that I have built up (~7 letters). Since my school doesn't have a pre-med committee, I'm left meeting the individual letter requirments for each school and interfolio can let me specify which letter goes where. If my school did have the committee letter, I would be more than happy to use VirtualEvals.

I am so fed up with the advisors and letter people at my former school. They have been utterly useless. Part of my desire to get my letters to interfolio is so that I will never have to deal with those clowns agian.

 

[123165]

No waiver or confidentiality excuses were given. I was told that they subscribe to VirtualEvals which is why they wouldn't send to interfolio. They also said that they couldn't send the letter to interfolio because they send letters by PDF, however, on the letter service website, they state that they send paper letters to the optometry application letter service.





There is nothing wrong with VirtualEvals. My issue is that VirtualEvals sends the whole packet of letters that I have built up (~7 letters). Since my school doesn't have a pre-med committee, I'm left meeting the individual letter requirments for each school and interfolio can let me specify which letter goes where. If my school did have the committee letter, I would be more than happy to use VirtualEvals.

I am so fed up with the advisors and letter people at my former school. They have been utterly useless. Part of my desire to get my letters to interfolio is so that I will never have to deal with those clowns agian.

Send the packet to interfolio

 

[Mike Lovell]

@csmittyB

I'd like to step in for you and contact your alma matter. Please give me a call at my direct line so that we can set something up.

With this in mind, note that we cannot force a school to release your documents. What I will do is assure the institution of the confidential nature of our processes, and our position as a leader in credentials management in higher ed.

To everyone else, keep the questions coming!

Thanks,
Mike
(202)223.3358x207

 

[csmittyB]

Send the packet to interfolio

Tried this last week. The school refused. Luckily I'm in contact with all but one of my letter writers, so I'm just asking them to resend the letters to interfolio.

@ Mike

Thanks for the help and I appreciate anything you can do.

 

[123165]

Tried this last week. The school refused. Luckily I'm in contact with all but one of my letter writers, so I'm just asking them to resend the letters to interfolio.

@ Mike

Thanks for the help and I appreciate anything you can do.

Wait, so you don't control where VirtualEvals sends your packet?

 

[csmittyB]

Wait, so you don't control where VirtualEvals sends your packet?

I misunderstood your comment. I didn't think of having VirtualEvals send the packet to Interfolio and don't know if that is even possible.

 

[beckhunter116]

Why not send all the letters you have to each school?

Most people send more than the required amount, so as long as you give the required letters, you can always send more--within limit. Then you don't waste money and each school gets to see more info on you.

 

[csmittyB]

Why not send all the letters you have to each school?

Most people send more than the required amount, so as long as you give the required letters, you can always send more--within limit. Then you don't waste money and each school gets to see more info on you.

I know what you are saying, but certain schools do ask you to not send more than the required letters (i.e. DMU). I'm not sure they would appreciate getting ~7 letters when they only want 3.

Bottom line is that it is no problem for me to get my letter writers to resend the letters to Interfolio (all my letters should be in the mail by the end of the week), it is just annoying that my school won't pass on MY letters.

Yeah but a waiver was probably signed, relinquishing rights. It's a matter of control and confidentiality. Mostly control, probably, in this case.

Apparently there was something in the waiver that I signed stating that they only send letters to certain places (whatever that means). I don't remember seeing that, but I did sign it in 2007 (my fault for not remembering every detail of the form).

Interestingly, the waiver/form that is given to letter writers makes no mention of where the letter can be sent after it arrives at the letter service, so confidentiality should not be an issue. I think it is just control and money. The school gets $125 for every student that opens a file (used to be more when there as a committee letter available).