Letters of rec question

[joshua_msu]

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Hey guys, I had a question for all yall.
I was looking at some programs on FREIDA. When FREIDA states that you need 3 or 4 letters of rec for a required program, does that typically include the Dean's letter? Also, can you send an extra one or two if the you think they are relevant? Thanks much.

 

[rugtrousers]

Hey guys, I had a question for all yall.
I was looking at some programs on FREIDA. When FREIDA states that you need 3 or 4 letters of rec for a required program, does that typically include the Dean's letter? Also, can you send an extra one or two if the you think they are relevant? Thanks much.

No, it doesn't include the dean's letter. And ERAS (the application system) will let you submit up to 4 LORs. I called a bunch of programs that specified 3 letters and asked them if they would look at an additional letter. They all said to go for it. IMO, if you have four letters from people who know different sides of you, it can only help round out the selection committee's perspective in a helpful way. Don't send a fourth letter if it's weak, though.

 

[jennyboo]

That's correct. My medical school also confused things by claiming that the four letters included your dean's letter -- it took me a while to realise they were wrong.

 

[BubbleHead]

Let's say that you assign 4 letters to program "A" (the max you can assign any program). You can tell on ERAS when program "A" has download each letter. You can then go back in and reassign different letters to program "A" and they will automatically download everything new periodically. I found this out as I was replacing letters from FM and Surg preceptors as my Anesthesia letters came in... A few programs had 6-7 letter for me at my interview.

 

[jennyboo]

Yeah -- there is that "trick" to getting more than four letters downloaded -- particularly if your application is submitted early (i.e. in the first week of September).

I don't know at what point they stop downloading new stuff. I noticed that one residency program only printed out two letters of my three (the third one was uploaded to ERAS late in September).