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

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sarcasmrules said:
I have a committee letter/packet. But for schools that prefer individual letters, does it hurt me to submit a committee packet? My committee packet consists of my committee letter and individual letters.
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I have moved your question to our main thread on letters. It is fine to send your committee packet.
 
If your school writes a committee letter with no letters attached, is it still preferable to send that committee letter over other letters?
 
dimplesage said:
If your school writes a committee letter with no letters attached, is it still preferable to send that committee letter over other letters?
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If the school explicitly said they prefer individual letters, probably not.
 
dimplesage said:
Thanks! So to clarify, generally committee letters are better?
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Generally, yes. But if the school prefers individual letters and your committee letter isn't also a packet (committee letter + individual letters), it may hurt you.
 
Hi. I accidentally already assigned the max 5 letters to Einstein but didn't see that they required a letter from a faculty member of your major department. I ended up getting one after I realized, but now I have 6 letters total. Should I contact the admissions to let them know that I've added or should I just not assign the 6th letter? If I assign it should I note it somewhere that one of the letters should be disregarded since their max is 5?
 
My PI is currently between jobs and therefore doesn't have official letterhead for their letter. They said they may have official letterhead within the next month or so. This is a very strong letter which I would very much want considered as part of my application. Which of the following is the most appropriate thing to do?

1. Send other letters, then add this one later.
2. Send the letter without letterhead, then send an updated letter with the letterhead. (Is this even possible?)
3. Just send the letter without letterhead.
4. Forget about this letter.

I appreciate your help!
 
warmLaundryNap said:
My PI is currently between jobs and therefore doesn't have official letterhead for their letter. They said they may have official letterhead within the next month or so. This is a very strong letter which I would very much want considered as part of my application. Which of the following is the most appropriate thing to do?

1. Send other letters, then add this one later.
2. Send the letter without letterhead, then send an updated letter with the letterhead. (Is this even possible?)
3. Just send the letter without letterhead.
4. Forget about this letter.

I appreciate your help!
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It does not need to be a school letterhead. They can make a simple one in Microsoft Word to put the letter on.
 
Hi, I submitted and assigned an MD letter, unaware that the MD had recently changed jobs. The letter on amcas has her old job location and contact info. Should I have her resubmit the letter with her new organization's letterhead, or is the old one okay?
 
prelk said:
Hi, I submitted and assigned an MD letter, unaware that the MD had recently changed jobs. The letter on amcas has her old job location and contact info. Should I have her resubmit the letter with her new organization's letterhead, or is the old one okay?
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Not necessary in my opinion. People change jobs. That's life.
 
medschool99238 said:
Hi. I accidentally already assigned the max 5 letters to Einstein but didn't see that they required a letter from a faculty member of your major department. I ended up getting one after I realized, but now I have 6 letters total. Should I contact the admissions to let them know that I've added or should I just not assign the 6th letter? If I assign it should I note it somewhere that one of the letters should be disregarded since their max is 5?
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I moved your question to this main thread on letters of rec.

You will need to sort it out with the school how they want to handle this. I suspect you could send the 6th and they will disregard one of the others, or contact you.
 
Hi all,

I am curious how to classify my letters of recommendation. I will have a pre-med committee composite letter written on my behalf incorporating multiple letters, but also made the decision to have one letter written by a department chief at Northwestern to be sent on its own. Would this be a total of 2 letters? Would the committee be classified as the "primary" on secondaries?

Maybe a silly question, but Albert Einstein, for example, has options to select undergraduate committee OR 2 individual letters. Not sure which to pick.

Thanks.
 
nauglegross said:
Hi all,

I am curious how to classify my letters of recommendation. I will have a pre-med committee composite letter written on my behalf incorporating multiple letters, but also made the decision to have one letter written by a department chief at Northwestern to be sent on its own. Would this be a total of 2 letters? Would the committee be classified as the "primary" on secondaries?

Maybe a silly question, but Albert Einstein, for example, has options to select undergraduate committee OR 2 individual letters. Not sure which to pick.

Thanks.
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Welcome to the forums. You can check with the Northwestern team, but from what I can glean, I would think that the committee letter should be your "primary" letter and counts as "one" document even if it includes input from multiple authors.
 
I've seen variations of this asked in the past, but can't find an exact answer- when schools require that a letter of rec has a "hand written signature" does that meant the letter writer has to print it out, sign it using a physical pen, and reupload the letter, or does signing in cursive on a computer (using the mouse) count as a signature?

One of my letter writers doesn't have ready access to a printer, so that's why I need to know.
 
DOCOC15 said:
I've seen variations of this asked in the past, but can't find an exact answer- when schools require that a letter of rec has a "hand written signature" does that meant the letter writer has to print it out, sign it using a physical pen, and reupload the letter, or does signing in cursive on a computer (using the mouse) count as a signature?

One of my letter writers doesn't have ready access to a printer, so that's why I need to know.
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Some programs allow for the use of a graphic of the signature. Some computers like styluses/styli or fingers because we have touchscreens now. You can make it work.
 
When indicating whether a letter writer is associated with a school, it doesn’t give me options for medical schools. Should we indicate if a letter writer is faculty at a med school, and if so, how?
 
indeterminateorigin said:
When indicating whether a letter writer is associated with a school, it doesn’t give me options for medical schools. Should we indicate if a letter writer is faculty at a med school, and if so, how?
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There is an organization name slot on that page. You can also choose the associated undergraduate if the med school is part of one.
 
chilly_md said:
There is an organization name slot on that page. You can also choose the associated undergraduate if the med school is part of one.
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I was planning to list the associated undergraduate if this was considered okay, so your response is helpful. Thanks!
 
Hi all,

I have a professor who told me she'd be out of the country until mid-July and can complete my letter then (I had asked two months earlier and given a deadline in late May, so I was trying to get it earlier). I have a committee packet and I'm waiting on hers to complete it. Is it wise to wait until mid to late July for this letter? I believe it will be a strong one, and it fills a gap that my other letters don't have, but I'm worried I'll be late on my secondaries given the timeline. Thanks!
 
Hi everyone,

I have a question, a supervisor at my tutoring job refused to write me a letter as I was there for less than a year and lacked skills associated with the job that are different from being a doctor.

I have 8 other strong letters (2 science, 1 non science, 3 research, and 2 other work experiences).

Will this be a red flag in any way as it is my most recent work experience? I plan on having another job letter in my update to schools.

Thank you for your time.
 
classof2028md said:
Hi everyone,

I have a question, a supervisor at my tutoring job refused to write me a letter as I was there for less than a year and lacked skills associated with the job that are different from being a doctor.

I have 8 other strong letters (2 science, 1 non science, 3 research, and 2 other work experiences).

Will this be a red flag in any way as it is my most recent work experience? I plan on having another job letter in my update to schools.

Thank you for your time.
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8 letters is already excessive. Do not worry about getting this letter or another job letter. Plan for how you can cut this down to 4-5 letters that you will send to each school.
 
chilly_md said:
8 letters is already excessive. Do not worry about getting this letter or another job letter. Plan for how you can cut this down to 4-5 letters that you will send to each school.
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Thank you for this!

My further question is the following; some of the letters are from experiences from over 5 years ago ( I am a non trad). My writers agreed to write an updated letter and submitted it to my interfolio around October of last year. Would these letters still be okay as I was in recent touch with them?
 
classof2028md said:
Thank you for this!

My further question is the following; some of the letters are from experiences from over 5 years ago ( I am a non trad). My writers agreed to write an updated letter and submitted it to my interfolio around October of last year. Would these letters still be okay as I was in recent touch with them?
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Those are fine, but consider whether they add anything substantial or if one letter from that group will sufficiently capture the same message as the rest.
 
I plan on applying MD only when I apply next cycle. Should I have a physician LOR prepared just in case? I have heard that a few schools require a clinical LOR, but am not sure which ones.
 
No. I'm not familiar with the specific requirements of various schools, so perhaps someone else can chime in, but I'm not aware of any MD schools that require clinical letter.

As a reviewer, physician letters are very rarely helpful, unless for example it is a physician that you scribed for over a period of months or longer who had a chance to really get to know you. If it's just someone that you shadowed or who provided some mentorship, they usually don't know the candidate well enough to provide a meaningful and insightful letter that tips the needle in either direction. That makes it a waste of a letter, a slot that could have been used by a professor or work supervisor or someone else that knows you better.

In summary, clinical letters are not inherently bad, but it does need to be someone who knows you well and can provide insight into your character and suitability for medicine, which is rare.
 
pinkbowbunny said:
I plan on applying MD only when I apply next cycle. Should I have a physician LOR prepared just in case? I have heard that a few schools require a clinical LOR, but am not sure which ones.
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I have moved your question to our main thread as current applicants may wonder if they should rush to get one.

I agree with cj_cregg's in-depth reply. Previously, only AZ Tucson required a clinical letter I believe.
 
Hey All,

I recently discovered that the MD letter I submitted on a few secondaries lacks a signature. I had the MD resubmit the letter to my interfolio with a signature.

If I send it to AMCAS under the same letter ID, will they update the letters at the schools where I've already submitted my secondary? Or will they just fix any secondary I submit moving forward?

Thanks.
 
prelk said:
Hey All,

I recently discovered that the MD letter I submitted on a few secondaries lacks a signature. I had the MD resubmit the letter to my interfolio with a signature.

If I send it to AMCAS under the same letter ID, will they update the letters at the schools where I've already submitted my secondary? Or will they just fix any secondary I submit moving forward?

Thanks.
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They may update by just appending the new letter with signature. AMCAS doesn't "fix" letters.
 
hey so i made the letter request forms for my LORs and got the letter IDs and send them to interfolio and interfolio just sent them to amcas today, however i went on my amcas application and the letter request forms are gone? is this supposed to happen?

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also after amacas process the LOR taht interfolio sent them today and they upload my LOR, i submitted four letters of reocmmendation, however a school that i am applying to only accepts 3, im just curious, which ones are going to be sent to that school?


thanks
 
havil said:
hey so i made the letter request forms for my LORs and got the letter IDs and send them to interfolio and interfolio just sent them to amcas today, however i went on my amcas application and the letter request forms are gone? is this supposed to happen?

also after amacas process the LOR taht interfolio sent them today and they upload my LOR, i submitted four letters of reocmmendation, however a school that i am applying to only accepts 3, im just curious, which ones are going to be sent to that school?


thanks
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I have moved your question to our main Letters of Evaluation thread. You can select which letters go to a school on AMCAS, so you do not have to send all 4. If you have already sent 4, then they may choose 1 to disregard.
 
This question is for Keck SOM, which only requires two letters (both of which can be from anyone):

Should I send a PI letter for a research experience I had for two years if I already am sending two letters from people with stronger relations, one of them also being a PI for a different lab? I did not interact with this PI as much so am concerned if adding it might just lower the quality of my letters.
 
solarflare1230 said:
This question is for Keck SOM, which only requires two letters (both of which can be from anyone):

Should I send a PI letter for a research experience I had for two years if I already am sending two letters from people with stronger relations, one of them also being a PI for a different lab? I did not interact with this PI as much so am concerned if adding it might just lower the quality of my letters.
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The additional letter is unlikely to add anything. If you had limited interactions, it is better to avoid sending this one and sticking to strong letters.
 
chilly_md said:
The additional letter is unlikely to add anything. If you had limited interactions, it is better to avoid sending this one and sticking to strong letters.
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Awesome thank you. So schools dont care about not sending all PI letters?
 
I changed one of my letter writers to no longer sending, but I have not received a notification that any of my applications are complete after submitting my secondaries. All of my other letters have been submitted. Do you need to directly contact medical schools when a letter is no longer being submitted?
 
Hi, I have gotten ii from my state school and they need all letters in to schedule I believe. I basically told my science letter writer that any time during summer is fine, and he is probably familiar with this process, but I'm wondering what a good time to send a follow-up with him is? I got confirmation 6/5 he could provide it but he's probably very busy transitioning to a new school.
 
Nela Riddle said:
Hi, I have gotten ii from my state school and they need all letters in to schedule I believe. I basically told my science letter writer that any time during summer is fine, and he is probably familiar with this process, but I'm wondering what a good time to send a follow-up with him is? I got confirmation 6/5 he could provide it but he's probably very busy transitioning to a new school.
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You could send a follow-up at this point if your last communication with him was 6/5. It has been 2 months.
 
Hello, I was told a while ago that it didn't matter what type of professors my letters of recs were from. Obviously, this was poor information. Most of the DO schools I am applying to are asking for at least one letter of rec from a science faculty member who taught me. I have a letter of rec from a professor in the school's osteopathic medical faculty (she teaches science and specialty courses) and a department chairperson. I took an undergraduate course with her, but it was more clinical rather than science. Does anyone know if I would be able to categorize this under science, or would most schools not look at it that way?

I also have a letter of rec from an HPS of science professor but I'm assuming this would be considered sociology.
 
My school does not have a committee letter, so I have individual letters from the following:
  • Science Professor
  • 2 Non-Sci Professors (Public Health, Humanities)
  • MD supervisor for Gap Year Clinical Employment *
  • Manager for Non-Clinical Employment
  • MD supervisor for Clinical Volunteering *
  • PI from 3 yrs Research *
Many schools only allow 3 individual letters, and I feel that while none are bad or average letters, the Science Professor is probably not the strongest out of them all. I don't want to send extras to follow directions / since I wouldn't be able to control what is read.

What are Admissions Committee goals of LORs? Are they mostly for ascertaining academic rigor and I should always include the science and non-science prof LORs? Or could I include 3 others that potentially meet the goals of the school better (ex: clinical volunteering for schools emphasizing service)?

The starred letters above are my strongest and most long-term relationships, but include no purely academic letters.

As an applicant who has taken 2 gap years, I'm including the clinical employment letter for all schools as its my most recent activity. I would appreciate any advice for how to prioritize if there are only 3 letters allowed.
 
Last edited:
cheaud said:
Hello, I was told a while ago that it didn't matter what type of professors my letters of recs were from. Obviously, this was poor information. Most of the DO schools I am applying to are asking for at least one letter of rec from a science faculty member who taught me. I have a letter of rec from a professor in the school's osteopathic medical faculty (she teaches science and specialty courses) and a department chairperson. I took an undergraduate course with her, but it was more clinical rather than science. Does anyone know if I would be able to categorize this under science, or would most schools not look at it that way?

I also have a letter of rec from an HPS of science professor but I'm assuming this would be considered sociology.
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That letter appears to be your best option.
 
letstwist said:
My school does not have a committee letter, so I have individual letters from the following:
  • Science Professor
  • 2 Non-Sci Professors (Public Health, Humanities)
  • MD supervisor for Gap Year Clinical Employment *
  • Manager for Non-Clinical Employment
  • MD supervisor for Clinical Volunteering *
  • PI from 3 yrs Research *
Many schools only allow 3 individual letters, and I feel that while none are bad or average letters, the Science Professor is probably not the strongest out of them all. I don't want to send extras to follow directions / since I wouldn't be able to control what is read.

What are Admissions Committee goals of LORs? Are they mostly for ascertaining academic rigor and I should always include the science and non-science prof LORs? Or could I include 3 others that potentially meet the goals of the school better (ex: clinical volunteering for schools emphasizing service)?

The starred letters above are my strongest and most long-term relationships, but include no purely academic letters.

As an applicant who has taken 2 gap years, I'm including the clinical employment letter for all schools as its my most recent activity. I would appreciate any advice for how to prioritize if there are only 3 letters allowed.
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Include the clinical employment letter, science professor, PI and if the school says they want a 2nd academic letter or a non-science one, then include one of the non-science ones.
 
Is it okay to have a rec letter written by a grad student in the lab working towards their PhD? Im working on my honors thesis and my mentor is a grad student. I know it would make for a great rec letter bc of how much contact we have, but is the fact that they're a grad student an issue?
 
The advice I've received before is to get the letter cosigned by the PI. Unfortunately, some schools specifically want research letters that are verified/come from faculty
 
Psyched*Out said:
Is it okay to have a rec letter written by a grad student in the lab working towards their PhD? Im working on my honors thesis and my mentor is a grad student. I know it would make for a great rec letter bc of how much contact we have, but is the fact that they're a grad student an issue?
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dimplesage said:
The advice I've received before is to get the letter cosigned by the PI. Unfortunately, some schools specifically want research letters that are verified/come from faculty
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Merging with appropriate mega-thread.

You can't get a LOR from a grad student, period. The LOR needs to come from the PI. The PI can ask the student to shadow-write the LOR, but a LOR from a student is inappropriate.
 
GoSpursGo said:
Merging with appropriate mega-thread.

You can't get a LOR from a grad student, period. The LOR needs to come from the PI. The PI can ask the student to shadow-write the LOR, but a LOR from a student is inappropriate.
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so i can have the grad student write it as long as PI signs/cosigns it? Isn't that unethical
 
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