Letter of rec missing letterhead

[Mayday_]

Hi everyone, I know a similar thread was posted recently, but I was hoping for some advice on my situation. I received and email from one of the schools that I applied to stating that one of my five letters was missing official letterhead. I emailed the professor today, but she's out of the country right now so I don't know if I'll hear back from her for a few weeks.

I may call the school that emailed me and ask if my research letter can be substituted as my second science letter (I received academic credit for it), but I'm concerned about how the missing letterhead will affect me at other schools. Should I call each one and ask if I either need to resubmit the letter or have another letter sent in its place?

All of my 5 letters are from my university (2 science, 1 non-science, 1 research, 1 premed advisor), so I doubt the letter would have a "sketchy" feel to it, but I'm still concerned.

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[GomerPyle]

I had a similar situation but luckily I was able to contact the professor and let her know. I actually helped her put a letterhead on the letter since she didn't even know how. If your professor is out of country, I think you should try your best to see if there's a way you can contact her. You might have to ask the people she works with to see how you can get a hold of her - that's the best thing you can do. A lot of schools are very strict with the letterhead rule. Your only other option is to inform school's ahead of time about your situation, and just hope that they will excuse it this once. I doubt many schools will though...

 

[Mayday_]

I had a similar situation but luckily I was able to contact the professor and let her know. I actually helped her put a letterhead on the letter since she didn't even know how. If your professor is out of country, I think you should try your best to see if there's a way you can contact her. You might have to ask the people she works with to see how you can get a hold of her - that's the best thing you can do. A lot of schools are very strict with the letterhead rule. Your only other option is to inform school's ahead of time about your situation, and just hope that they will excuse it this once. I doubt many schools will though...

How did you go about resending it to all of your schools?

 

[mrh125]

How did you go about resending it to all of your schools?

interfolio => amcas app => send to schools would be my guess.

 

[Mayday_]

interfolio => amcas app => send to schools would be my guess.

So each school would end up with 2 copies of that letter? And I guess they'd just read the one with letterhead?

 

[mrh125]

So each school would end up with 2 copies of that letter? And I guess they'd just read the one with letterhead?

i'm not sure, i'd call amcas and/or contact each school. ideally you should be able to replace it if the school hasnt received it. if they have two copies hopefully they'll be able to figure out what's going on. I had one doc who wrote me a letter not give her letter head and it was frustrating as hell.

 

[GomerPyle]

You'd send it to Interfolio and then send it to your AMCAS. You then update your AMCAS to send the new letter to the designated schools. Then you'd send an email to each school to inform them that a new LOR is coming in because your professor did not put a letterhead on the previous one.

 

[Mayday_]

i'm not sure, i'd call amcas and/or contact each school. ideally you should be able to replace it if the school hasnt received it. if they have two copies hopefully they'll be able to figure out what's going on. I had one doc who wrote me a letter not give her letter head and it was frustrating as hell.

Did you end up having to send new ones to each school too?

You'd send it to Interfolio and then send it to your AMCAS. You then update your AMCAS to send the new letter to the designated schools. Then you'd send an email to each school to inform them that a new LOR is coming in because your professor did not put a letterhead on the previous one.

Thank you! Hopefully I can get ahold of this teacher

 

[mrh125]

Did you end up having to send new ones to each school too?



Thank you! Hopefully I can get ahold of this teacher

I caught it beforehand so i didnt have to. it was still a mess though bc my prof couldnt figure out how to reupload on interfolio tho

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

You'd send it to Interfolio and then send it to your AMCAS. You then update your AMCAS to send the new letter to the designated schools. Then you'd send an email to each school to inform them that a new LOR is coming in because your professor did not put a letterhead on the previous one.

I don't think you have to email the schools. Amcas had told me that when you send it to them, you put the same letter ID and it updates the letter.

 

[Mayday_]

I don't think you have to email the schools. Amcas had told me that when you send it to them, you put the same letter ID and it updates the letter.

Even if they've already received your letters? I'm complete at a few schools already so would that still work at those?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Even if they've already received your letters? I'm complete at a few schools already so would that still work at those?

I am not 100% sure. Can you call Amcas and report back? I would call but I'm at work.

 

[mehc012]

As a side note, does anyone else find the idea of letterhead on a digital document to be a bit...pointless?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

As a side note, does anyone else find the idea of letterhead on a digital document to be a bit...pointless?

I find the entire LOR thing pointless.

 

[mehc012]

I find the entire LOR thing pointless.

Well, sure, but there's something about the phrase ".pdf format on official letterhead" (almost a direct quote from a recent application I filled out, though not med school) which just leaves me scratching my head. In my mind, it's practically an oxymoron!

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Well, sure, but there's something about the phrase ".pdf format on official letterhead" (almost a direct quote from a recent application I filled out, though not med school) which just leaves me scratching my head. In my mind, it's practically an oxymoron!

Haha ya. I just think LOR are dumb. What do most people ask for when you ask for a lor? Your CV. Ya there are a lot that do know about you, but overall most professors don't. It's just a bunch of bs.

 

[mehc012]

Haha ya. I just think LOR are dumb. What do most people ask for when you ask for a lor? Your CV. Ya there are a lot that do know about you, but overall most professors don't. It's just a bunch of bs.

I've never had a prof ask for a CV to write a LOR. Just got 3 in the past few months...not a single CV was asked nor received. Then again, I went to a liberal arts college, so my profs practically know my life story, and I've met all of their kids!

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I've never had a prof ask for a CV to write a LOR. Just got 3 in the past few months...not a single CV was asked nor received. Then again, I went to a liberal arts college, so my profs practically know my life story, and I've met all of their kids!

Yeah, that's a little different than ucla where your classes have 350+ students in them.

 

[mehc012]

Yeah, that's a little different than ucla where your classes have 350+ students in them.

Yeah, I couldn't even imagine going to a class like that. I picked my school for exactly that reason - after freshman year, most of my major classes had 4-8 people in them. Some were designed for only 2 students at a time.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

For me, only Boston and MCW cared about the missing letterhead. My professor updated the letter and I actually added it as a new letter on AMCAS and sent it BU and MCW. I didn't bother contacting the other schools. I doubt the missing letterhead is what got me rejected from the other schools. Letterheads are a waste of time.