Letters of Rec

[DMBFan]

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For all of the secondaries, do you mail the letters of rec yourself in a sealed envelope, or do your professors mail the letter themselves? What should I give them to write the rec for me? An addressed envelope? Sorry if this is a dumb ?

 

[marr]

Ask them actually. Some will send it themself while others want you to do it. If you are going to send it ask your professors for departmental envelope.

 

[MeowMix]

You want to make this as easy as possible for anyone writing a letter for you. Several options:

1. best option: many schools have a letter service. Your professors send their letter ONCE to the letter service, which then copies and forwards the letters to each school as necessary. Your premed advisor should be able to tell you if this service exists. It is absolutely worth paying for, even $4/letter. You know which letter went out, where it went, when, etc.

2. next best option: use Interfolio. Same as above, but a company rather than your school.

3. less desirable: you provide a stamped, addressed envelope to each professor. Problematic because you won't know when they send the letter, and they might forget. Also problematic because it is a LOT more work for them to send a letter each time you need to do another secondary. You ideally want a dept letterhead envelope, so you could provide a sticky address label and a stamp. All around pain in the ass.

4. least desirable: you provide the envelope, they seal it, you pick it up and mail it. Or, they provide letter sealed in envelope, you pick it up and mail it.

5. not an option: they give you the letter without an envelope (unless you have retained your right to see the letter).

 

[ShyRem]

Interestingly enough, all of my professors wanted to send it themselves, to each individual school, envelope and all. We have a "career center" which will collect letters, but none of my professors wanted to use it. When I asked if they wanted envelopes, they all said it was easier for them to merge the fields and print the envelope with the letter - that way they didn't lose the envelope.

I do almost wish they would have used the career center - at least I would know exactly when everything went out. *sigh*. At the mercy of the LOR writers.

 

[DMBFan]

Thanks so much for your reply. I will try to find out if there is a letter service at my school. Does interfolio have a website?

One quick question - I am not applying to many schools (2 actually) and was wondering whether in a situation like this, would it still be confusing for the prof and do I still need to do this whole letter service deal?

Also, why is it least desirable to mail the letters yourself?

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Because medical schools want them to be confidential. If you're mailing em, then you might be reading the letters, and so they can't fully trust what the writer is saying.