LOR Rant

[kaikai128]

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I am soooo frustrated right now. I asked a physician to write me letters of reccomendation--to which he agreed. I personally typed up the envelopes so that all he had to do was fold the letter and send put it into the hospitals outgoing mail.

Well, two (of 6) schools say that they have not received his letter. He says he sent all of them on Aug 28th. I verified with him which schools he sent letters to, and he says they all went out. Yet, there are two schools who say they have not received the letter, one of which was/is my top choice. I have approached the physician about this and he is sure that the letters were sent, and didn't show any interst in resending them. 🙁

grrr...

 

[Ypo.]

This happened to me, too. I got sick of bugging the doctor-she eventually sent them out. Have you tried asking your schools how often they update your files? Sometimes they only do it once every few days.

If this doesn't help,obviously you have two choices-one, tell the doctor they got lost in the mail-apologize profusely for pestering him again-but could he please resend them? Two-get another letter from a different physician-its OK with the schools as long as you tell them to expect a different letter- I almost did that myself.

It is so frustrating. You really need a good team behind you to get into medical school. Just try your best to get that doctor to resend them.

 

[cardiotonic]

Sometimes it takes a med school a couple of weeks to process their mail. So it could be in the admissions office but it isn't showing up because they haven't processed it. If I were you, I would give it about a week and check back. About the same thing happened to me last year. I would trust the doctor. Hope this helps.

TUCOM-NV Class of 2009!!!

 

[kaikai128]

I doubt that they are just not processsed yet...they apparently all went out in one batch, and the other schools have had them for three weeks--that would be pretty bad if they are that far behind. I told the one school (who admitted to having some missing stuff) that I would call back at the end of the week...

 

[adennis]

Has anybody sent in their own DO letter?
Let me clarify...

my premed committee is sending out a packet for me... but they do not want to mess with the DO letter as it won't go to all of the schools that I'm applying to...

So.. is it against protocol to send them out yourself?

I had asked the person that was writing the letter for me to give them to me in sealed envelopes so I couldn't see them.. I'd just add the address and send them out.. (that way it would all be more kosher).. but I don't think that I'm going to get them that way, as I'm supposed to "pick it up" tomorrow...

I was supposed to get the letters 2 months ago.. just now getting it.. so I really don't want to have to add more time to it.. plus.... I don't want to give her more work than she's already got...

any suggestions?
(sorry for hijacking this thread)

Andrea

 

[Nate]

@Andrea
Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't you want the DO letter to go to all of the schools that you are applying to?

My DO letters went with the rest of my letters in a packet from my undergrad to every school I applied to, MD and DO.

 

[adennis]

Nate,
Good point!
The school I am at does not request nor require that I provide a letter of recommendation from a physician...
It would have been a heck of a lot easier if they would allow it.. would've forgone this problem huh?

Andrea

 

[acl3623]

yea it sucks even harder when youve been bugging the person to send your letter in the first place...for 5 months!! ive run out of ideas of how to remind this prof...any good tips from anyone??

 

[Amy B]

My pre-med advisor handled all my letters. He made up 2 packets, one that included the letters from the DO to go to the DO schools and one that excluded the DO letter that went to the MD schools. I already had enough LORs and since the DO letter was an addition made only fo rthe DO schools he didn't feel it needed to go out with the MD LORs.

SO you can have the DO make copies and send their letter in for you. You can give them a priority mailer with the postage included and his/her return address on it.

As to the letters that are missing. I would contact the doc and implore them to send them again. I would remind them as very politely as you can just how important it is to have their LOR. You could even give them a priority mailer with the postage and ask them if they would use it. That way you know it will get there within 3 days. You could even pay the extra few dollars and have a tracker on it so you can track where it is.

Sorry you are having troubles with it. It sure makes the process a pain when things happen. Good luck all.

 

[OrthoFixation]

Or the OP could quit asking LOR writers to send multiple copies of the same letter and only send one letter to a professional service online. They letter writers can even upload online if they prefer (if they have a digital signature).

I use Interfolio.com. My letters are confidential and I have not seen them. When I need to send letters out, I pull the website up, pick which letters to send, enter the address then <magic> they all go out at once in a combined mailing. The fee is small and you can select the type of delivery and carrier.

I couldn't ask letter writers to be trouble with a zillion letter requests and my follow up pestering. I just wish the web idea was mine.

 

[kaikai128]

I am sorry...but I am going to come acrossed as defensive here, but what has been done in the past....and I can't quite easily change what has already been done. I did not use interfolio or anything of the sort because I was highly advised against it from the local medical school who said they would prefer getting the letters from either a committee or from the writer directly.

My letter writer knew this from the beginning--he did not have an issue with printing multiple copies of the same exact letter and folding them and placing them in envelopes....which were already addressed, had return addresses, and where pre-postaged by the hospital.

The main reason i wrote this was to see if anyone had any luck getting those "lost letters" from schools...I know he has already done this favor for me and i didn't want to ask any more of him. Seriously, advice on what I SHOULD have done as in 3 months ago???

 

[raptor5]

Last year when I applied to PCOM, I had 3 physicians send letters. PCOM said they never received them but had the premed comm. letter, so I had the LORs sent again, they still said they never received them. I interviewed and then asked them about the LORs, here is what they said "We have the one from Dr. ****" I say "What about the other two", they say "Oh I am sure we have them somewhere". That bothered me, but I guess one was good enough.

 

[acl3623]

wow, its nice to see that all the hard work we put into the application process is worth it...

 

[irishlaydi]

Has anybody sent in their own DO letter?
Let me clarify...

my premed committee is sending out a packet for me... but they do not want to mess with the DO letter as it won't go to all of the schools that I'm applying to...

So.. is it against protocol to send them out yourself?

I had asked the person that was writing the letter for me to give them to me in sealed envelopes so I couldn't see them.. I'd just add the address and send them out.. (that way it would all be more kosher).. but I don't think that I'm going to get them that way, as I'm supposed to "pick it up" tomorrow...

I was supposed to get the letters 2 months ago.. just now getting it.. so I really don't want to have to add more time to it.. plus.... I don't want to give her more work than she's already got...

any suggestions?
(sorry for hijacking this thread)

Andrea

Hi...I have been out of school for a few years so I am having my letters of rec sent from the people who are writing them for me. I think it is not proper to send them yourself. If you can provide the DO with pre-addressed and stamped envelope they should have no problem sending it out for you.