Letters of rec questions.

[Imsofly]

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I have a few questions about letters of rec and will appreciate if anyone can give any answer!

since my plan was to apply this year, I asked for my letters of rec. Now I decided that I am applying next cycle but a few of my professors said they already wrote it. My questions are

1)as soon as they write it, do the letters go to our college's health office and sent to AAMC right away? or does it stay there until every letter is in and waits for our call? how does that work?
2) since i am applying the very next cycle around april, do I have to get new letters from the same professors or can I use those letters of rec?
3)another question is...I have a feeling that my bio prof doesn't really like me but he is the only one who I can ask to write a letter for me because the other bio profs I had never replied but this one did. He said he will write my letter but I heard that we can't read our letters of rec once its in? Is he required to write good stuff or can he flat out write "DO NOT TAKE THIS KID INTO UR MED SCHOOL"?

Thank you for your help guys!

 

[AquiVoy13]

1). it depends on your school's policy. But if you're applying next year, you shouldn't send your letters to AMCAS until then.

2). You can use the same letters, but I would make sure that the letter is up to date. For example, if they're mentioning extracurriculars, make sure they also include things from this upcoming year. Also make sure the dates are correct (ex. 2014-2015 cycle, not 2013-2014).

3). Unfortunately, it is possible that your prof could include less than ideal things in the letter. This is why it's important to ask for a strong letter and to ask someone you trust. You now have a whole additional year... perhaps you can find another letter writer if your unsure about your bio prof? Also, you can waive your right to read the letter, making it a confidential letter (this is what most people do)... but I suppose you could retain your ability to read it (I've heard this is not recommended)

Good luck.

 

[Imsofly]

yeah I would have waited till next cycle to ask for letters but the thing is I JUST recently decided that. and now my letters are already in the office.

as for the date, obviously the professor writing the date on the letter will be 2013's date but I will be using that next cycle, 2014. What do I do now? Do I tell them to change the date or something? how does that work?

and yes since I pretty much have a whole year before I apply, I can ask someone else for letters but the thing is we need a letter from our bio professor and I don't have anyone else to ask. SAY I do find someone else and have them write a letter as well (now having 2 bio letters in file), will I be able to tell the health office WHICH letter I want to send? will i have a choice?

 

[Imsofly]

bumpity bump...

 

[talinnlove]

Let all of your letter-writers know that you will be deferring your application for another year. Tell them quite soon. Let them know that you hope to meet with them approximately next February to discuss any updates to your application. Then ask them in person during that meeting if they would be willing to update the year on the letter to 2014. Follow up via email in March.

Your letter writers are by no means required to say good things about you. They can be positive, neutral, or negative. This is semantics, but technically you are supposed to meet with your professors, tell them a bit about your plans, and then ask them if they would be comfortable writing "a positive letter of recommendation" for you. It shows that you want a good word, not just a piece of paper from someone in order to fill a requirement.

The AMCAS primary application lets you choose which letters go to which schools. If you don't indicate that you want to send that letter to a school, then the school won't be able to see it. If your school does packets, I'm sure that iffy letter isn't trapped on your application forever. Let the registrar know that you would like to withhold X Professor's letter from your app at the moment. Should be fine.

 

[Imsofly]

thank you for the reply^ but the thing is I think most if not all (i'm finding out tomorrow) of my professors already sent in the letters of recs for me =( Will I still be able to use those next year by asking them to change the date? or perhaps telling my counselor or health office to edit the date? I'm assuming that I won't be able to do that.

 

[talinnlove]

You won't be able to personally do it, but someone will be able to quite easily. Your professors will still have your letter file saved on their computer or email. Ask them to retain it until next year (they probably would have done this anyway) and ask about meeting with them later next year to update the letter for your next application cycle.

Once you confirm that your profs will be willing to meet with you sometime down the road, contact your letter service and ask about their policy for deleting letters. Confirm that they can do this, but don't have them actually do it yet. Better to have an out of date, positive letter on hand instead of nothing, in case one of your profs disappears within the next year.

Early next year, contact all your profs. If you hear from all of them and can arrange meetings, contact your letter service and ask them to delete the current letters in your file. If you cannot get ahold of one of your profs, simply have your letter service retain that letter in its outdated form. Having someone in the letter office change the date from 2013 to 2014 won't help much if the prof is commenting on stuff that all happened in 2013 or earlier anyway.

All you really have to do right now is let your profs know that you are deferring, and that you hope to be in touch with them next year if they are still willing to author letters for you. Find out your letter service's deletion policy, but don't have them delete anything yet.