~*~*~*~*~* Offical Letters of Evaluation Questions Thread 2024-2025 *~*~*~*~*~

[GoSpursGo]

so is it better to have them cosign w the grad student, or only sign it themselves

It doesn't really matter as long as the PI signs

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[capybaracarbonara]

Hello! I finished submitting all of my secondaries but recently received my LOR from an MD I worked very closely with. I was unsure of whether he would submit the letter because of how busy he is, so I did not add it to my AMCAS. This letter is very strong, so would it be beneficial to add this LOR to my AMCAS and send it to all schools? I'm not sure if this outweighs the con of pushing myself to the back of queue (i'm not 100% sure this happens, but it's what I saw online)

Also, would this LOR be seen if I'm already complete at all schools?

Also, would I need to inform all medical schools that I just added a new letter?

 

[meowkat1011]

One of my rec letter writers rewrote my letter with improvements and says he recommends I submit this one instead since he was able to add more context to my accomplishments and believes it'll be better received. I've already submitted this letter to a lot of medical schools? If I submit the new letter to the same letter ID in AMCAS, will the letter automatically be switched out? Should I reach out to each individual school?

Thank you!

 

[phantomprince206]

Just got my UCSF secondary today, and realized I have 5 rec letters but only 1 instructor from a class. I have another one that I am getting right now but I see that UCSF has a max of 5 letters. Any suggestions on what to do? I am thinking to reach out to UCSF admissions but not sure if there is anything to do before that.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Just got my UCSF secondary today, and realized I have 5 rec letters but only 1 instructor from a class. I have another one that I am getting right now but I see that UCSF has a max of 5 letters. Any suggestions on what to do? I am thinking to reach out to UCSF admissions but not sure if there is anything to do before that.

I don't know the details of your instructions from UCSF. I doubt you can do anything at this point without advice from the UCSF team.

 

[phantomprince206]

Thank you! Emailed them and they got back to me quickly about what to do.

 

[proxject47]

Currently in a tough situation. I had two science professors who agreed to write me a LoR, but one of them redacted the agreement given their busy schedule and not knowing me that well (which is reasonable). I am attempting to reach back out to old professors who would agree write me one, even if the letter is mediocre. I honestly would only send out that LoR if the school specifically requires a second science LoR and if my PI's letter cannot be sent in lieu of the requirement.

I did reach back to a hold community college bio professor (PhD) I had during dual enrollment. They surprisingly remembered me and has agreed to write a LoR. Would this impact me negatively? Even though this LoR would meet the requirement of "a science faculty member who has taught the applicant", I nevertheless took the course back in high school. Ideally, I would want to get both science LoRs from my 4 year university so I will continue to try to look for one, but again, currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[AJS59]

Currently in a tough situation. I had two science professors who agreed to write me a LoR, but one of them redacted the agreement given their busy schedule and not knowing me that well (which is reasonable). I am attempting to reach back out to old professors who would agree write me one, even if the letter is mediocre. I honestly would only send out that LoR if the school specifically requires a second science LoR and if my PI's letter cannot be sent in lieu of the requirement.

I did reach back to a hold community college bio professor (PhD) I had during dual enrollment. They surprisingly remembered me and has agreed to write a LoR. Would this impact me negatively? Even though this LoR would meet the requirement of "a science faculty member who has taught the applicant", I nevertheless took the course back in high school. Ideally, I would want to get both science LoRs from my 4 year university so I will continue to try to look for one, but again, currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.

It's not ideal, but it's the play you have. I'd go for it.

I would also cross check against the schools you're applying to for their letter requirements - not all may require or recommend 2 science faculty, but many do.

 

[proxject47]

Sorry I am new to Interfolio. Basically my letter writer uploaded my LoR, but Interfolio marked it as missing a signature. I did not see this alert (they honestly only mark if with a half moon so I didn't knew what that signaled) so I sent to AMCAS, although I have not assigned them to schools yet.
I understand my letter writer can reupload a letter with a signature with the original request link I sent which would be updated on Interfolio's end, but will Interfolio send the reuploaded letter to AMCAS?
I considered just adding a Letter ID on AMCAS and uploading the letter there. If anyone has experience with this please let me know.

 

[chilly_md]

Sorry I am new to Interfolio. Basically my letter writer uploaded my LoR, but Interfolio marked it as missing a signature. I did not see this alert (they honestly only mark if with a half moon so I didn't knew what that signaled) so I sent to AMCAS, although I have not assigned them to schools yet.
I understand my letter writer can reupload a letter with a signature with the original request link I sent which would be updated on Interfolio's end, but will Interfolio send the reuploaded letter to AMCAS?
I considered just adding a Letter ID on AMCAS and uploading the letter there. If anyone has experience with this please let me know.

I have moved your questions to our main LOR thread.

 

[FutureMD2025]

Is it a bad idea to go over the max limit on LORs for a school per its MSAR profile?

If a school on MSAR has a max of 5 LORs and an applicant in AMCAS assigns more than 5 LORs to that school how is it handled? Does AMCAS transmit only 5 LORs to the school or is it up to the school to sort it out?

TIA

 

[chilly_md]

Is it a bad idea to go over the max limit on LORs for a school per its MSAR profile?

If a school on MSAR has a max of 5 LORs and an applicant in AMCAS assigns more than 5 LORs to that school how is it handled? Does AMCAS transmit only 5 LORs to the school or is it up to the school to sort it out?

TIA

The school will sort it out but it is best to not send extra letters.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Is it a bad idea to go over the max limit on LORs for a school per its MSAR profile?

If a school on MSAR has a max of 5 LORs and an applicant in AMCAS assigns more than 5 LORs to that school how is it handled? Does AMCAS transmit only 5 LORs to the school or is it up to the school to sort it out?

TIA

The schools get the letters that you mark should be sent to them in AMCAS (or whatever CAS as appropriate).

 

[Nela Riddle]

I'm still waiting on my science letter. I got confirmation on 6/2 and 8/2 that he still plans to send it. What is the best course of action right now? Should I prod him further, send a gift card, a sample letter?? Or am I basically already screwed for getting my applications in "early"?

 

[chilly_md]

I'm still waiting on my science letter. I got confirmation on 6/2 and 8/2 that he still plans to send it. What is the best course of action right now? Should I prod him further, send a gift card, a sample letter?? Or am I basically already screwed for getting my applications in "early"?

Did you give him a deadline originally or ask for a time frame during one of those follow-ups? If you've asked him twice now already, there is not much you can do.

 

[Nela Riddle]

Did you give him a deadline originally or ask for a time frame during one of those follow-ups? If you've asked him twice now already, there is not much you can do.

In the first email, I said June 1. In the second email, I said "at any point in the summer." I can only hope he took that one seriously...

 

[proxject47]

Currently trying to figure out sending letters. I received 4 letters from a cardiovascular practice I work at. 3 MD and 1 DO. Each of them has a different specialty: 1 general cardiologist w/ heart failure focus, 1 electrophysiologist, 1 MD interventional cardiologist, and 1 DO interventional cardiologist. Would it be okay to send out multiple physician letters from the same practice?

 

[chilly_md]

Currently trying to figure out sending letters. I received 4 letters from a cardiovascular practice I work at. 3 MD and 1 DO. Each of them has a different specialty: 1 general cardiologist w/ heart failure focus, 1 electrophysiologist, 1 MD interventional cardiologist, and 1 DO interventional cardiologist. Would it be okay to send out multiple physician letters from the same practice?

Send one from the one you worked with most. Sending all or most of these would be excessive.

 

[jqfk]

So I’ve been waiting on a physician LOR for about 3 months now. I’ve submitted all my secondaries and they’ve been sitting there for almost a month without getting reviewed because they’re waiting on that last LOR (it’s attached to every one of my schools). Every time I reach out to the physician he says he’s working on it.

At this point, I don’t think delaying my application is worth the LOR so I changed the status to No Longer Sending in AMCAS. However, some schools require just 3 LOR and this letter was one of them. My question is, should I reach out to these specific schools and offer to send another letter instead of the physician's letter? I’m afraid that they’ll see only 2 letters submitted instead of the 3 and it’ll negatively affect me.

 

[chilly_md]

So I’ve been waiting on a physician LOR for about 3 months now. I’ve submitted all my secondaries and they’ve been sitting there for almost a month without getting reviewed because they’re waiting on that last LOR (it’s attached to every one of my schools). Every time I reach out to the physician he says he’s working on it.

At this point, I don’t think delaying my application is worth the LOR so I changed the status to No Longer Sending in AMCAS. However, some schools require just 3 LOR and this letter was one of them. My question is, should I reach out to these specific schools and offer to send another letter instead of the physician's letter? I’m afraid that they’ll see only 2 letters submitted instead of the 3 and it’ll negatively affect me.

You can send them through AMCAS at any time if if you already have another letter on hand. If you don't, you can contact those schools and see how they want you to proceed, but they likely will keep your application as in-complete until a 3rd letter comes in.

 

[myribosomesbad]

Hello!

I already submitted all my secondaries back in July, but I've been working as a medical assistant at a doctor's office and I think I have a very good relationship with the doctor there. I don't have any MD LOR right now, so do you think it would be a good idea to add his letter this late into the cycle? Could it potentially hurt my chances by "pushing back" my application in the review queue?

Thanks!

 

[chilly_md]

Hello!

I already submitted all my secondaries back in July, but I've been working as a medical assistant at a doctor's office and I think I have a very good relationship with the doctor there. I don't have any MD LOR right now, so do you think it would be a good idea to add his letter this late into the cycle? Could it potentially hurt my chances by "pushing back" my application in the review queue?

Thanks!

I have moved your question to our main LOR thread. In general, MD letters of rec do not add much and are not sought out by MD schools (DO looks for them though). An employment letter can provide a different viewpoint if they directly worked with you a lot, but if you already have good letters, it probably still would not add much.

 

[plzletmeinnn]

Hi!

I just got email from a school saying that one reference letter is not dated and they asked to resubmit.
My question is: should I email all other schools and change the letter?
Or should I do nothing and wait until some school asks me about this undated letter, then submit the dated version? (ie do not update the letter for schools that don't ask me about the date)? I'm mainly afraid if sending this additional message to schools that don't care about the date would actually be bad - delay processing, or "draw their attention to the mistake".

Also, if I should update for all schools: should I send the updated letter from Interfolio to AMCAS using the same letter ID and that it's automatically updated for all distributed schools? Or should I create a new letter entry on AMCAS? (which means I'm sending two exactly same letters and exceed the letter limit sometimes..)

Thanks for any advice!