Interfolio vs. University LOR Service

[Neha4000]

My school has a LOR service that sends out letters from individual recommendation writers to the schools that you wanna apply to, but they don't write committee letters. I don't know if I trust the school service to send out my letters in a convenient manner.

It might be faster/less hectic to just use Interfolio, that way everything is sent as a package, and I can track the progress any time. Will it look kind of shady to the schools that I'm applying to if I don't use my school's LOR service even if they do provide a service? What do you guys think?

Thanks

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[Elmer]

My school has a LOR service that sends out letters from individual recommendation writers to the schools that you wanna apply to, but they don't write committee letters. I don't know if I trust the school service to send out my letters in a convenient manner.

It might be faster/less hectic to just use Interfolio, that way everything is sent as a package, and I can track the progress any time. Will it look kind of shady to the schools that I'm applying to if I don't use my school's LOR service even if they do provide a service? What do you guys think?

Thanks

It depends on your school. If I had it to do over, I would use Interfolio. My school delayed my application for several weeks. I doubt it matters if your school does not add a committee letter.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

I remember a post saying that a particular med school did not accept letters from interfolio. I assume that this is the exception, not the rule, but it's worth keeping in mind.

 

[stoic]

i've also heard of a few schools that don't accept letters from interfolio; as such, i stuck with my university letter service.

 

[premedgeek]

I personally never had problems with using Interfolio, and I applied to lot of schools.

 

[bdt]

I had a great experience with my school's letter service (I graduated in '96 and they still let me use it). I didn't have a committee letter, just 4 seperate letters of rec. All I had to do was send the service an email and within a day they would have sent out my letters. I was very impressed. Props to U of Colorado at Boulder. It sounds like the quality of letter service at schools varies.

So, I'd say this. Try and hunt down some folks at your school who are applying to med school this year (maybe through premed club or advisor) and ask them their experience with your school's service. If they liked it, use it. It they have horror stories, don't.

Good Luck

 

[OSUdoc08]

My school has a LOR service that sends out letters from individual recommendation writers to the schools that you wanna apply to, but they don't write committee letters. I don't know if I trust the school service to send out my letters in a convenient manner.

It might be faster/less hectic to just use Interfolio, that way everything is sent as a package, and I can track the progress any time. Will it look kind of shady to the schools that I'm applying to if I don't use my school's LOR service even if they do provide a service? What do you guys think?

Thanks

Use the school's service. This is what med schools prefer, and many have had problems with Interfolio. Yes, the schools may wonder about why you didn't use the school as well.

 

[wisteria]

Use the school's service. This is what med schools prefer, and many have had problems with Interfolio. Yes, the schools may wonder about why you didn't use the school as well.

How do you know what med schools prefer? And how could they possibly have problems with interfolio?

Interfolio simply prints the letters you select (so you can send different combinations to diff schools), arranges them in the order you designate, and sends them addresses of the med schools that you enter, and all within 5 business days.

In fact, my undergrad university has a contract with Interfolio to manage ALL of recommendation letters - Interfolio is my undergrad's rec letter service!

med school's can't possibly have time to wonder why you didn't use your undergrad's service: they'll prob just appreciate that you had you letters sent efficiently... and so will you.

And if you have additional letters from people outside of your school (work etc), you can have your writer just send them directly to Interfolio to be added to your file. This way, med schools will just receive 1 neat bundle of letters for you.

Interfolio = no confusion, no sweat, and most importantly, NO DELAYS.