~*~*~*~*~* Offical Letters of Evaluation Questions Thread 2021-2022 *~*~*~*~*~

[ndcpjf]

Is a research letter necessary? I have a summer of research under my belt with a publication, but only want to include 5 letters and am not sure if it's necessary. Will schools wonder why I have research+pub but no letter from research supervisor/PI?

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[coramDeo]

Hi @gonnif ,

In my primary application, I accidentally left out the title and the associated organization of the writer for one of my letters. Now, I haven't sent the letter to AMCAS so it has given me the option to mark it "No Longer Being Sent."

Would you say it's better to mark the letter "No Longer Being Sent" and create a new letter entry with the title and organization of the writer included? Or is this minute detail that I can overlook and should I just send the letter to the existing letter entry with missing details?

I am using Interfolio FYI.

 

[coramDeo]

1) why would you assign a letter that was not yet in AMCAS on the promise that it will be coming? Applicant should never do that
2) marking a letter no longer being sent still means if the letter does eventually get in the system it will be sent
3) if I am being a nice staff member and I see letter from Professor A is no longer being sent but then one comes from Professor A under a different letter ID (which I would never notice) I might assume you didnt want this letter seen so leave it out as a favor

Leave it alone, send letter as is without title

Hi @gonnif,

Thank you for your answer.

I already had the letter in my Interfolio dossier so I created an entry for the letter and submitted it, only to realize later that the entry in the AMCAS (not the letter itself) was missing the title of the writer and the associated organization. I imagine those things are included in the letter though...

Will this have any effect on the letter/application?

 

[Fano]

3. My school has a medical school admissions committee, and they produce a committee letter. But the letter won't be released until really LATE! (August, September, October). Can I just skip the committee and collect my own letters?
The general wisdom on this topic is that if your school has a committee, USE IT! If you don't, you will be asked why and will need a very good reason. You are circumventing the committee at your own risk.

Committee letter has not been sent yet. Kindly asked the chair when we might expect it to be done. Just got a lot of excuses, e.g. summer, vacations, busy, etc., but no ETA.
So when is it time to hit the panic button?
What are the risks of circumventing the committee?
What's the best way to get the letter before it's really LATE?

 

[Fano]

Committee letter has not been sent yet. Kindly asked the chair when we might expect it to be done. Just got a lot of excuses, e.g. summer, vacations, busy, etc., but no ETA.
So when is it time to hit the panic button?
What are the risks of circumventing the committee?
What's the best way to get the letter before it's really LATE?

Nevermind! 10 min after posting this, the letter was received by amcas. Maybe that's the trick!

 

[supersaiyanvegeta]

@gonnif Are you allowed to use an LOR from a professor who you took a class with that was listed as current/future coursework (without grades) on your AMCAS primary app? I have my old science professor letters from undergrad but was wondering if I should try to get a letter from the professor from this newer upper div science class and replace one of the older ones with it as I have been out of school for a few years without post bacc work until recently.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Sorry if this is a redundant question but I haven’t been able to get a clear answer. If my committee writes a new letter of support, can I change the letter that has already been submitted to schools. Or add it at least?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

If any new document or letter is added to existing letter ID it will be appended to any previous letter associated with the ID.

Would it be bad if med schools saw two committee letters? Assuming the second is similar to the first with some relevant updates and a more recent date? I wasn’t sure if the updated one would be here in time so I uploaded the one from past cycle but the more recent one got here sooner than I thought.

In other words, should I assign the letter ID to the new committee letter even though I already submitted applications with the old letter to some schools?
Thank you

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

True but I haven’t officially uploaded the new committee letter yet. I was planning to send the new one as is (separate request) as a separate request to the ~20 or so schools I have yet to send my primary. I have sent about ~35 primaries to schools with the old letter

 

[supersaiyanvegeta]

@gonnif Are you allowed to use an LOR from a professor who you took a class with that was listed as current/future coursework (without grades) on your AMCAS primary app? I have my old science professor letters from undergrad but was wondering if I should try to get a letter from the professor from this newer upper div science class and replace one of the older ones with it as I have been out of school for a few years without post bacc work until recently.

I quote all my responses

@gonnif Sorry about that, I had some potentially identifying info but I removed it from the original post quoted above and deleted the do not quote. Would really appreciate your input. Thank you.

 

[baz2020]

Hello,

Feeling really dumb right now. I realized that while filling out a schools secondary just now that I did not assign emails to my letter of rec writers via amcas. Furthermore, my browser auto-filled MY email address for one of my letter writers on amcas so in secondary portals it looks like "Letter writers name: MY email address". Am I worried about nothing or is this not a big deal at all?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

If I know a prominent faculty member at a certain school (used to be a prof at my undergrad institution but moved to a school in applying to) would be appropriate to ask if he could write a letter of recommendation just for that one school? I took a class with him and he seemed to like me well enough but I didn’t have him write a letter because didn’t feel he knew me well enough?

 

[KnightDoc]

If I know a prominent faculty member at a certain school (used to be a prof at my undergrad institution but moved to a school in applying to) would be appropriate to ask if he could write a letter of recommendation just for that one school? I took a class with him and he seemed to like me well enough but I didn’t have him write a letter because didn’t feel he knew me well enough?

I don't understand what you are trying to do with this. If he doesn't know you well enough to write a letter you'd want to use at all your schools, what advantage do you think a generic letter from a prominent faculty member at a specific school is going to confer upon you at that school? Sure, he's prominent, but the letter is still going to suck, isn't it? If not, why wouldn't you want to use it everywhere?

 

[ndcpjf]

I'm not so sure about this. Committee letters definitely trump all, because schools love the analysis and comparison to other candidates that they contain. Letter packets, not so much. After all, they are nothing more than a bunch of letters with a cover sheet.

Why do you think that a compilation of letters that individually do not meet a given school's requirements are acceptable, when it is so simple to either make sure that the packet meets all your schools' requirements, or, in the alternative, simply add the extra letter via Interfolio?

In other words, why would a school that requires a non-science letter be okay with 5 letters in a letter packet that doesn't contain one when they wouldn't be okay with the same 5 letters individually? What's magic about a packet that doesn't meet a school's requirements, since UGs typically only have suggestions regarding what goes into them?

As an update to anyone who reads this thread in the future - I have now asked two different medical schools who require 2 science + 1 non-science academic faculty letters as individual letters, state my letter packet with no non-science letter is fine and meets the requirement. I'd still caution to reach out and clarify if it's questionable but this is my experience so far.

 

[Enne]

Hello, I'm not sure if this has already been answered, but I'm having a hard time finding the answer to this question - I was struggling to find letter writers earlier in the year, so I set the deadline for before the end of July - the issue I'm having is that for one of my schools, CNU, there was a faster turn around than I was expecting - the application is due on July 24th and my coursework is due july 30th. If my letter writers wait until the last day (July 31st) to turn them in, will this impact my application? Or should I ask if they can have them in before July 29th to give AMCAS a day to process my letters and get them in on time. I've already completed all of the supplemental application parts on my end. Thanks for any advice!

 

[BioPsychotic]

Hello all.

My research PI has offered to write me a rec letter. I already got one from my direct mentor (postdoc), but she said her letter might hold more weight since she is a professor at the med school.

This would be my 5th letter — I currently have a committee letter with 3 included and a physician letter.

Should take her up on it, or would the additional letter would be unnecessary?

 

[KnightDoc]

Hello all.

My research PI has offered to write me a rec letter. I already got one from my direct mentor (postdoc), but she said her letter might hold more weight since she is a professor at the med school.

This would be my 5th letter — I currently have a committee letter with 3 included and a physician letter.

Should take her up on it, or would the additional letter would be unnecessary?

Since she offered, it sounds like it will be a good letter. Why not take her up on it, but only send it to schools that welcome additional letters? Some will, while others will not want anything beyond the committee letter.

 

[KnightDoc]

Hi @gonnif! So, I know the rule of thumb is to not risk annoying adcoms by giving them more than what they ask for, but I now have a situation where one school is asking for a letter from a health care professional (doctor, social worker, etc.) that is not included in my letter packet, since no other school asks for such a letter, so I did not request it until now. I am complete at all the other schools.

Since this letter is going to be good, and since I have to ask for it anyway, would it be bad to send it to all the schools where I am already complete, and where the letter will be in addition to the packet that already satisfies their requirements? I think I know the answer, but, I hate to see a good letter go to waste, so I wanted to hear your thoughts. I'd also love to hear what @gyngyn @LizzyM @Catalystik and @Moko think, in addition to anyone else with experience with extra letters.

 

[gyngyn]

Hi @gonnif! So, I know the rule of thumb is to not risk annoying adcoms by giving them more than what they ask for, but I now have a situation where one school is asking for a letter from a health care professional (doctor, social worker, etc.) that is not included in my letter packet, since no other school asks for such a letter, so I did not request it until now. I am complete at all the other schools.

Since this letter is going to be good, and since I have to ask for it anyway, would it be bad to send it to all the schools where I am already complete, and where the letter will be in addition to the packet that already satisfies their requirements? I think I know the answer, but, I hate to see a good letter go to waste, so I wanted to hear your thoughts. I'd also love to hear what @gyngyn @LizzyM @Catalystik and @Moko think, in addition to anyone else with experience with extra letters.

Do not send an extra letter where it is not requested!

 

[LizzyM]

I think I'd be saying (or thinking), "why am I getting this? why wasn't included in the letter pack? What's the point?" It wouldn't wow me but it wouldn't put me off, either. Overall, I'd say don't waste your time and mine.

 

[wysdoc]

Hi @gonnif! So, I know the rule of thumb is to not risk annoying adcoms by giving them more than what they ask for, but I now have a situation where one school is asking for a letter from a health care professional (doctor, social worker, etc.) that is not included in my letter packet, since no other school asks for such a letter, so I did not request it until now. I am complete at all the other schools.

Since this letter is going to be good, and since I have to ask for it anyway, would it be bad to send it to all the schools where I am already complete, and where the letter will be in addition to the packet that already satisfies their requirements? I think I know the answer, but, I hate to see a good letter go to waste, so I wanted to hear your thoughts. I'd also love to hear what @gyngyn @LizzyM @Catalystik and @Moko think, in addition to anyone else with experience with extra letters.

Ask the writer to send the letter to AMCAS and assign it ONLY to your school that asked for this type of letter.

 

[KnightDoc]

@KnightDoc after @gyngyn @LizzyM @wysdoc anything I would say would be repetitive and annoying as would be getting an extra letter by an adcom

Exactly as I thought, but as I said in my post, my mother taught me not to waste, so I wanted to check in with the experts!

 

[LizzyM]

Exactly as I thought, but as I said in my post, my mother taught me not to waste, so I wanted to check in with the experts!

In this case, the waste is time... most valuable commodity we have.

 

[supersaiyanvegeta]

LOR should be from a professor who knows your academic work. How that could be in a class that you havent completed yet would seems weak. However, you can have LOR in by secondary completion. So if this is a summer course currently in progress you can wait until complete and get letter then as long as prof doesnt sit on it for more than a week

Follow-up question - the professor agreed to write an LOR for me and the class has ended but it looks like the professor is still working on grading, so it's possible they won't be able to submit it until maybe mid August or end of August. I have 2 science letters that I used my previous 2 cycles with updated dates but I am a non-trad so they are from classes I took in undergrad - one from ~5 years ago and one even older (6+ years ago). Should I submit the 5 year old letter for schools that require 1 science letter and both older letters to schools that require 2 science letters now or wait for the newer letter? Or submit what I have now and then send the newer LOR to schools that accept additional LORs? A few schools seem to accept additional letters via email but for most it seems like adding an additional letter after you are complete will change your completion date, so I feel like the only two choices are wait or don't wait. I'm not sure what to do because I don't want to delay my completion date but I also don't want to be rejected because I don't have a newer academic LOR. Would appreciate any advice @gonnif @wysdoc @LizzyM

 

[nhok89]

Question: I've had my secondary's completed for all my schools (AMCAS & AACOMAS) for a while, yesterday my committee LOR got submitted, I was wondering if I should update the schools that the LOR was submitted, or should I give it some time? Only some MD schools have marked me as complete while others (DO) haven't updated the portal yet. Thank you

 

[KnightDoc]

Question: I've had my secondary's completed for all my schools (AMCAS & AACOMAS) for a while, yesterday my committee LOR got submitted, I was wondering if I should update the schools that the LOR was submitted, or should I give it some time? Only some MD schools have marked me as complete while others (DO) haven't updated the portal yet. Thank you

I do not know about AACOMAS, but for AMCAS, no update is necessary. The letter will be submitted to AMCAS through their letter service, and schools will see it and automatically mark you complete. Telling them this happened will be entirely superfluous. Some MD schools will take some time because they will manually look at the letters to make sure they meet their requirements before marking you complete, but they all absolutely see them without an update from the applicant.

 

[kdawg2000]

I accidentally put the wrong contact information for one of my letter writers on AMCAS, and I just noticed it now after finishing all of my secondaries. The email and phone number listed are mine instead of the letter writer's. Is there any way I could change this or is it worth it since all of my schools have already received it? Also, could this be damaging to my application?

 

[pitterpatterpitterpatter]

In the current application cycle and I was able to catch up with one of my letter writers who brought up the fact that they had discussed my ADHD diagnosis in my LOR. The premise of the letter was about my resilience and how I was able to overcome many things - including a late ADHD diagnosis through CBT to eventually ace my classes. I have one II from a T20 from early in the cycle - which I have not heard back from yet - but radio silence and R’s everywhere else. I have not discussed my diagnosis anywhere else in my application as I don’t want it to define me, and though this letter is included with 5 others and my committee review in my committee packet, do you think this may have impacted my cycle significantly?