LOR before ERAS opens

[TheMightyAngus]

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I'm applying for residency this coming fall and starting to collect LOR's. Problem is that I don't know where I should have them sent this early in the process. As far as I know, ERAS isn't open yet. Do I have any options other than having the chairman's secretary hold on to it for me until Fall comes?

 

[dragonfly99]

Doesn't your school have a career office or academic dean's office that keeps the LOR's for you?

 

[Law2Doc]

Doesn't your school have a career office or academic dean's office that keeps the LOR's for you?

Agreed -- if you are at a US med school the normal routine is to have your career office collect these letters and upload them at the appropriate time, and you never handle them and nothing actually goes directly from profs to ERAS. Many schools have their own cover sheets with the school address and the waiver on it that explains to your LOR writer what to do with the letter, so I would check with your school.

 

[cgk]

Agreed -- if you are at a US med school the normal routine is to have your career office collect these letters and upload them at the appropriate time, and you never handle them and nothing actually goes directly from profs to ERAS. Many schools have their own cover sheets with the school address and the waiver on it that explains to your LOR writer what to do with the letter, so I would check with your school.

If I only have 2 of the 3 required LOR's at time of my initial submission on Sept.1st, can I have my school subsequently upload the additional letter as long as it is done before Nov 1st when the Dean's letters are opened? I ask this because there is a rotation that I will be participating in late Sept- Oct and would like to get a LOR from the PD. Please advise. Thanks!!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If I only have 2 of the 3 required LOR's at time of my initial submission on Sept.1st, can I have my school subsequently upload the additional letter as long as it is done before Nov 1st when the Dean's letters are opened? I ask this because there is a rotation that I will be participating in late Sept- Oct and would like to get a LOR from the PD. Please advise. Thanks!!

Yes, although ERAS allows you to upload 4 letters. You could upload 3 early, and then add the 4th letter later. But the answer to your question is yes, you can do this and it shouldn't be a big deal for most programs. A small number of programs will consider an application with <3 letters "incomplete" and will not review it until the 3rd letter arrives. This would be rare, though.

 

[John Deere Gree]

As a side note...

Ask for the LORs early. From personal experience and speaking to classmates, this seemed to be the biggest stressor in terms of getting everything to ERAS. Usually we had to wait for that one last letter writer to write the letter (Thanks chairman for "interviewing" me in August only to write the letter in October).