Letter of Recommendation

[zeloc]

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I've seen the form from ERAS addressed to the letter writer, but I'm still not sure the procedure the letter writer is supposed to go through.

1. Apparently the writer is supposed to mention within the letter that I've waived my right to see it. How exactly does the person fit this into the letter?

2. What is the ERAS Dean's Office? Does the letter get sent to my school or to another place? Is it possible to send as a Word document, or is it better to be faxed or mailed?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[mdphd2b]

I've seen the form from ERAS addressed to the letter writer, but I'm still not sure the procedure the letter writer is supposed to go through.

1. Apparently the writer is supposed to mention within the letter that I've waived my right to see it. How exactly does the person fit this into the letter?

2. What is the ERAS Dean's Office? Does the letter get sent to my school or to another place? Is it possible to send as a Word document, or is it better to be faxed or mailed?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

So, I'll be applying this summer, but my understanding is sometime in July, ERAS's website will "open up" and you get a token from your school that let's you start the online application. You can then download pdf's of the LOR cover sheet, which has spaces for you to "waive your right" to see the letter if you wish. No LOR is accepted by ERAS w/o this cover sheet. At my school, the only LOR's acceptable must be sent directly from the letter-writer to our Office of Med Student Affairs. There, we have a wonderful staff person named Joanne ("4th year Application specialist") who literally SCANS everyone's leters into the system as they come in. These scanned copies are uploaded to ERAS, and res programs can download them w/your app after Sept 1. You can send unlimited letters, but only assign up to 4 to any one program. She also takes care of all our photos and other ERAS issues. I'm sure it's a similar process at other schools.

Hope this helps!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I've seen the form from ERAS addressed to the letter writer, but I'm still not sure the procedure the letter writer is supposed to go through.

1. Apparently the writer is supposed to mention within the letter that I've waived my right to see it. How exactly does the person fit this into the letter?

2. What is the ERAS Dean's Office? Does the letter get sent to my school or to another place? Is it possible to send as a Word document, or is it better to be faxed or mailed?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

1. It's very easy. The last line of the letter is "Dr/Mr/Mrs/Ms XXX has waived (or not waived) their right to review this letter". For the record, you should always waive your right to review your letters. If you don't trust that your LOR writers will write you a good letter, then either 1) you chose the wrong letter writers or 2) you are a paranoid schizophrenic. Either way, it's a bad sign.

If the letter writer forgets to put this in the letter, then the ERAS staff will stamp the letter "waived" or "not waived" before uploading it to the system.

2. Answered by the previous poster. If you are an IMG, then there is a separate, central office that processes all the paperwork in Philidelphia.