The University of Florida offers an LOR service run incredibly poorly (I've heard a lot of complaints). Do all medical schools accept Interfolio/ what are you kids doing these days?
Interfolio vs School's LOR Service
- Thread starter Beta Cell
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2008
- Messages
- 6,882
- Reaction score
- 3,120
These are the only AMCAS schools not participating the AMCAS letter service:
Albany Medical College
University of California San Francisco
Duke University School of Medicine
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center
LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans
Uni. of North Dakota Sch. of Med. & Hlth. Sci.
Oregon Health and Science University
University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
LSU School of Medicine-Shreveport
University of Missouri - Kansas City
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
University of California - Berkeley/SF
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program Biomedical Sciences
The Commonwealth Medical College
Ponce School of Medicine
If you aren't applying to any of these schools, then your school only has to send one letter packet to AMCAS. Hopefully they can handle it 🙂
Albany Medical College
University of California San Francisco
Duke University School of Medicine
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center
LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans
Uni. of North Dakota Sch. of Med. & Hlth. Sci.
Oregon Health and Science University
University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
LSU School of Medicine-Shreveport
University of Missouri - Kansas City
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
University of California - Berkeley/SF
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program Biomedical Sciences
The Commonwealth Medical College
Ponce School of Medicine
If you aren't applying to any of these schools, then your school only has to send one letter packet to AMCAS. Hopefully they can handle it 🙂
Hopefully I'll be appling to UCSF, Duke, and Stanford. Does University of Washington accept OOS? Thanks!
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2008
- Messages
- 6,882
- Reaction score
- 3,120
U Wash doesn't really accept OOS, though they take students from states around WA I think...you'll have to look into that. Wash U in St. Louis, on the other hand, definitely takes OOS.
I would have definitely applied to Duke 🙂thumbup: to living in NC), but I'm streamlining, so all the non-AMCAS letter service schools have to go.
I used the UF service...all i have to say is, if there's another option you have to send letters, use it. I found out one of my letters wasn't sent about a month and a half after requesting them sent. The woman doing it said she scanned in my 3rd letter wrong so it wasn't able to be read. I don't know why she never thought to double check if it was scanned right. This isn't an isolated incident either. I know several others who had similar problems with the UF LOR service. I would seriously advise avoiding using the service if you have an alternative.
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2009
- Messages
- 1,962
- Reaction score
- 1
UW (the one in washington state) won't take you unless you apply mstp or are disadvantaged or something (they have their own def of disadvantage)
i always suggest school services. i believe med schools prefer that too. however, people always seem to have problem with those. if its gonna halt your application, then go with interfolio. my school was pretty quickwithit tho
i always suggest school services. i believe med schools prefer that too. however, people always seem to have problem with those. if its gonna halt your application, then go with interfolio. my school was pretty quickwithit tho
UCSF does accept amcas LORS that was a mistake posted by whoeever said that.
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2008
- Messages
- 186
- Reaction score
- 32
Let me chime in by saying that my experience with Interfolio this year has been nothing less than seamless.
I opened my Interfolio account sometime in November/December 2008, asked my recommenders if they would write LORs in January 2009, sent out Interfolio LOR request forms to my confirmed recommenders in February. All of my recommenders took their sweet time (Feb-April) to write and send my LORs and each of my LORS were received by Interfolio by May 1st. Finally, when the AMCAS application opened, after getting all of my LOR ID #'s assigned by AMCAS, I requested that Interfolio submit my LORs to AMCAS last week.
Couldn't have been easier.
I opened my Interfolio account sometime in November/December 2008, asked my recommenders if they would write LORs in January 2009, sent out Interfolio LOR request forms to my confirmed recommenders in February. All of my recommenders took their sweet time (Feb-April) to write and send my LORs and each of my LORS were received by Interfolio by May 1st. Finally, when the AMCAS application opened, after getting all of my LOR ID #'s assigned by AMCAS, I requested that Interfolio submit my LORs to AMCAS last week.
Couldn't have been easier.
Is it fairly simple for the professors to use too? Anything harder than a few clicks will discourage them.
Yeah, was it Becky Sandbach? She didn't seem all there the first time I met her and when I began to hear complaints about the letter service, I didn't doubt them at all.
Yeah. She's nice, but kinda clueless and seems to mess the letters up a lot (I'm honestly not sure how it's hard to send letters). If you do choose to use the letter service, make sure she double checks everything she did so you can make sure you don't get screwed over 🙁
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2008
- Messages
- 186
- Reaction score
- 32
There are a couple different options for you to present to your potential letter writers:
1 - Have them do it the "old fashioned" way: Write out a letter on the computer, print off on letter head, place in envelope (with Letter Request Form) and then drop in a mailbox.
2 - Have them upload the document to Interfolio themselves.
***I opted for the former. Once my professors printed off the LOR on institutional letterhead, all they had to do was place the document inside the envelope that I had already addressed and stamped along with the Interfolio Letter Request form that I had already printed off for them. Once again, easy as pie!
***I didn't do the second option because that would have entailed my letter writers carry out some additional, technical steps that I wasn't willing to take a chance on. Yeah, I know that they all have PhD's and Emeritus status, but I like to keep it simple and cool. [Write, Print, Mail]
