New Letters of Rec due to hurricane?

[Sweetlill1]

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A little background: I went to Tulane University for undergrad and graduated May 2004. Tulane has a pre-med committee that writes a committee letter of rec and we are told to get two science letters and one non-science letter. I also had a DO that I shadowed send her letter of rec to Tulane so all of my letters could be sent together. The pre-med advisor was going to send my letters to the schools I had requested as soon as they receive the physician letter. As of wednesday last week, they had not received this letter. It is possible that it was received thursday or friday and therefore my whole packet was sent out, but I have no way of knowing. I called NSUCOM, and let them know my situation since I have an interview scheduled for there. At this rate, Tulane may not be in school for the semester and who knows when they would be stable enough to send out more letters. So, should I try to get new letters from my graduate professors (I just started my masters program this past summer) and other personal letters (from past employers, etc) or just wait it out and see while letting all of the schools I am applying to know my situation.

sorry this is so long. I am really not sure what to do. I will definitely let all of the schools know what is going on, but do you think I should try to get new letters in a hurry or see what happens with Tulane?

Thanks for your input!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

all i can say is that i'm sorry you're going through this. letters are stressful enough without adding a hurricane to the mix. however, i don't think it'll necessarily be as bad as you think it will be. even if tulane doesn't reopen for the rest of the semester, they might still have an administrative staff there that can at least mail your package. if not, your professors and physician might still have copies of the letters saved on their computers. if so, you can ask them to mail them directly to schools or to a service like interfolio. i'm sure something will work out. unfortunately, you probably won't know anything until next week or so. good luck!

 

[djnels01]

all i can say is that i'm sorry you're going through this. letters are stressful enough without adding a hurricane to the mix. however, i don't think it'll necessarily be as bad as you think it will be. even if tulane doesn't reopen for the rest of the semester, they might still have an administrative staff there that can at least mail your package. if not, your professors and physician might still have copies of the letters saved on their computers. if so, you can ask them to mail them directly to schools or to a service like interfolio. i'm sure something will work out. unfortunately, you probably won't know anything until next week or so. good luck!

yes, I agree, just wait it out. That's often the hardest part, but have faith in the system! There will be a way to correct any mistakes that are made, but just have faith-

 

[Sweetlill1]

Thanks for your advice... the main problem is that I am a reapplicant so these letters were originally written over a year and a half ago, making it much less likely that the professors still have them, and coupled with the fact that one of the professors isn't at Tulane anymore and that the Tulane email system is not functioning... I hate to harp on this when the entire gulf coast has been devastated...

(PS- this is my 50th post!)

 

[Doctor Bagel]

hmm, so is that professor who's no longer at tulane possibly in a place that's not affected by the hurricane? if so, you can contact him/her and ask for a new letter. if the professor is nice and was willing to write a letter for you the first time, she might be willing to do it again. just be sure to give all the details, explaining why you need a new letter. i'm assuming the d.o. you shadowed is also not in the new orleans area (hopefully), so is that letter salvagable?

for the other two letters, i guess you might be hedging your bets if you ask two professors in your masters' program for a letter. again, let them know the whole story and ask if they can do it quickly. since the hurricane was so big and unpredictable, i'm sure people will be willing to work with you.

 

[dr.z]

I'm sorry you have to go through this tragedy. As suggested before, try contacting the letter writers when things calm down a little. Hopefully they can send it out to schools.

 

[PurpleHaze]

My prayers are with you during this rough time. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[Amy B]

I would call the schools you applied to and tell them about the situation and seeing what they will be willing to do for you. However, as a reapplicant, they do want some new letters. I reapplied with 2 old letters and 3 new ones. It is to your advantage to show the school some new material and not have everything dated a year and a half ago. They really want some of those letters being new.