Letters of Recommendation? DESPERATE questions!

[2004applicant]

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I am kind of wondering how LORs would work when you want to apply to like 10 schools? Can you please help me answer the following questions.

-----Do all medical schools have different letter of reccomendation application forms? I mean there are two kinds of letter of recommendations.
Some LOFs are written like an essay by the professor without any application form and maybe with an attachment like a "letter head".
Some LOFs are applications provided by the schools requesting the professor to rate the applicant and some few essay type questions. Each school also differs in the content of it "LOFs application forms.

-----Which of the above type of LOFs do medical school admissions LOFs fit in.

----The reason i am asking is because i have only 3 professors who can write me strong letter of recommendations.

---So, applying to 10schools means i would need 30 letter of recommendations.

----Now, back to my question which type of LOFs do medical schools use?

----If they use the "essay type" LOF, then it would be easy because my professor has to write only one essay and make copies for the other schools.

---If they use the ratings "the application" LOF, then i am in big trouble. Because i think my professor would get pissed off writing a 10 different letter of recommendations to ten different medical school as he is really busy.

---Any advice?


---thank you guys

 

[UCLAMAN]

whoa whoa...slow down...

most schools usually have one of two things, either a LOR service or a premed committee.

A LOR service usually holds the original LORS written by your professors. When you want to send those LORs out to each school you just tell the service which schools you want them to send copies of those letters to and they will do so for a certain fee. At ucla its like 7 bucks for the first packet of letters and 4 bucks for each additional or something like that.

If your school has a premed committee then most med schools require you to use it. Same idea basically. You send your letters to the committee and they write a "composite letter" based on each individual LOR they receive and send that to all the schools you wish to send it to. I'd imagine there is also a fee for their services. UCLA didn't have a committee so I do not know the details.

There was also a thread earlier about how one should deal if their institution does not have either a LOR service or a committee. Basically if your school does not have either most schools will want a letter sent directly from the writer to the medical school you are applying to. Usually there are no forms to fill out so the LOR writer can just print out 10 copies or whatever, stuff them in stamped envelopes addressed by you and send them out themselves. There are a few schools that use forms that have specific questions in the event there is no LOR service or committee at your school. You would have to do your own research into the schools you are applying to to see if that is the case. A quick phone call to each admissions office is all you need. As far as I can remember Loma Linda was a school that used LOR forms that had specific questions about the applicant if there was no LOR service or premed committee at your undergrad inst. For the most part though, just have your professor write one letter and print out 10 copies of that one letter and give him 10 envelopes with the addresses of each of the schools you are applying to put the letters in so he can mail them. Don't forget to give him stamps or reimburse him/her for postage.

I advise you to look into whether your school has a LOR service or committee though as most medical schools require you to use them if they are available at your undergrad.

good luck!