LOR

[Dr.Forssmann]

Do we have to have our LOR's done before we submit our applications?

i just met with a professor and he insisted that each school has their own getting LORs. I told him that i'd get back to him on that.

i thought that you submit your letters via amcas? or do they send stuff to the professor to fill out? or is it something that you do before hand?

thanks!

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[Lya]

Ideally, yes, you want to have all the letters ready before you submit your applications. Otherwise, your applications will not be considered complete by medical schools unless they receive all the required letters. You may submit your application before your letters are ready, but the status will not be complete until you have all the necessary documents.

You can designate some letters (for example, some letters specifically for MD-PhD track and others for MD track) for each school, but I think that commonly people write general letters for all medical schools, rather than writing a specific letter to each individual school--because this will take a very long time both for you and professors. You submit your letters to AMCAS, which will send them to all medical schools you designated.


The first thing I would do is to look into whether your school has a letter service or pre-med committee that takes care of the letters for you. Otherwise, you should look into Interfolio to compile the letters by yourself in order to submit it to AMCAS.

 

[Oso]

You don't have to have your letters in by the time you submit your primary. It will take a few weeks to get your primary verified anyways, so that should give your letter writers a little more time if needed. You will need your letters to be considered complete (secondary application, LORs, MCAT, fees), so the earlier you can get them in the better.

Like Lya said, have your professor(s) write your letters and send to your school's letter service (if they have one) or interfolio. Once AMCAS opens, have your letter service send them to AMCAS. Once your letters are uploaded to AMCAS, you can designate which schools receive which letters. For example, some of my schools wanted a specific number of letters, while others were more open ended.

You may find this helpful: https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/amcas/faqs/146562/letters_questions_landing_page.html

 

[TurkTurkleton92]

I was under the impression that we still have a couple weeks AFTER primaries are sent to send our LOR's without it hurting the application.

 

[Oso]

I was under the impression that we still have a couple weeks AFTER primaries are sent to send our LOR's without it hurting the application.

yep, and this is what I meant when I said you had more time while your primary gets verified.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

wait so... is the letter literally like a letter.

idk if my prof knows what he's talking about.

so he has to have a letter ready before I submit right? its just a general letter of recommendation (not school specific) saying how he recommends me... its not school specific right?

 

[turayza]

wait so... is the letter literally like a letter.

idk if my prof knows what he's talking about.

so he has to have a letter ready before I submit right? its just a general letter of recommendation (not school specific) saying how he recommends me... its not school specific right?

It is literally a letter...word doc or pdf. Should be on official letterhead and signed (digital signature is ok).
You need to submit his LOR in order for your application (after AMCAS verifies the courses/stuff it does) to be sent to schools.
Not school specific, though if you really want it to be you can do that.

 

[turayza]

I suggest giving your prof this link: https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/332572/lettersofevaluationguidelines.html
Though he has probably written LORs before... you may want to meet with him in person to talk about your motivation to medicine and specific examples where you demonstrated characteristics that you want emphasized.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

I suggest giving your prof this link: https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/332572/lettersofevaluationguidelines.html
Though he has probably written LORs before... you may want to meet with him in person to talk about your motivation to medicine and specific examples where you demonstrated characteristics that you want emphasized.

i did this. i gave him a cover letter and included some stories about me and why liked his class and a few story's bout why i want to do medicine.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!