*~*~*~*Official Letters of Recommendation Questions Thread 2011-2012*~*~*~*

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Hello,

I submitted my primary with 5 letters assigned to each school (no committee letter 1 science professor, 1 sci/prof but I only did research w/him, my PI currently (I'm a research fellow), 1 math prof and 1 nephrologist that taught 20 years beforehand.

HOWEVER. I jumped the gun and didn't realize you couldn't 'unassign' them after you submit a school, only assign more (or I'd have waited on them all). Some schools only seem to want three; other schools I may want to back off so much research recs so I don't come off like I'm overcompensating (i.e. they require an extra 'character' letter and a peer letter as well...) I've heard some schools just randomly pick the first three listed and disregard others, which could be very problematic if they're not the types asked for listed first.

Anyone know if I can work with the schools to resolve this if they are picky schools, or do anything else constructive at this point?

Thank you!
 
So I have 5 people who've agreed to write strong letters for me. I've given them everything at the beginning of last month and only 2 have been received by AMCAS. I just started getting secondaries and I need those rec letters so that my app will be complete. What is a good polite way to "encourage" them to hurry up and out those letters for me? I've already sent out a probing email last week so I think it's time for the next step.
 
I'm sure someone out there is in the same situation as myself: I have a Bachelors in Political Science, thus never got very close to any of my science professors. It seems worthless to have a letter from a science prof that only knows me superficially. Is it possible that schools will see I'm not a science major and not credit heavily the very general letter I'm sure I'll have from a science prof? I do have strong great letters from Dr.s and Poly Sci professors. Thoughts, advice?
 
ok so here's my situation...

I don't have any letters of rec from any of my undergrad courses!!! I have one from the founding dean of the department of biology at UCSD which should be pretty strong, i TA'd for one of his classes (i.e. didn't recieve a letter grade from him but recieved class credit for TA-ing). another is one from my PI at a neurophysiology lab i worked at for 2 years (he is now an assistant professor of biology at penn state, so technically a "science professor" right? but he's not from my undergrad institution), and the last is from my EMT course instructors after I graduated.


This is the ONE THING holding me back from submitting my primaries right now 🙁 I've got everything else together and could possibly even submit my primaries TODAY if i knew these letters were enough...

let me know what you guys think... :/
 
Hi guys, dumb question but I did a search but couldn't find the exact answer to my question... I am wondering if a research professor counts as a science LOR, even if I never took a class under him. I currently have 1 science and 1 non-science from teachers I took classes under, but I am wondering if I need to seek out one more.

Thanks
 
Should count as science if you received academic credit for your lab work and he was the one that gave you the grade.
 
brandonh4 said:
Hi guys, dumb question but I did a search but couldn't find the exact answer to my question... I am wondering if a research professor counts as a science LOR, even if I never took a class under him. I currently have 1 science and 1 non-science from teachers I took classes under, but I am wondering if I need to seek out one more.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Actually, this does not count as a science LOR at most schools. A lot of schools stipulate that your science letter has to come from a professor who taught you in a lecture class. It is much better to ask for a science professor letter now than to try to scramble at the last minute for one when you get the secondary and see the exact wording of their requirements
 
brandonh4 said:
Hi guys, dumb question but I did a search but couldn't find the exact answer to my question... I am wondering if a research professor counts as a science LOR, even if I never took a class under him. I currently have 1 science and 1 non-science from teachers I took classes under, but I am wondering if I need to seek out one more.

Thanks
Click to expand...

flatearth22 said:
Should count as science if you received academic credit for your lab work and he was the one that gave you the grade.
Click to expand...

sector9 said:
Actually, this does not count as a science LOR at most schools. A lot of schools stipulate that your science letter has to come from a professor who taught you in a lecture class. It is much better to ask for a science professor letter now than to try to scramble at the last minute for one when you get the secondary and see the exact wording of their requirements
Click to expand...
Merging with Official LOR Questions Thread.
 
swimmyoooo said:
ok so here's my situation...

I don't have any letters of rec from any of my undergrad courses!!! I have one from the founding dean of the department of biology at UCSD which should be pretty strong, i TA'd for one of his classes (i.e. didn't recieve a letter grade from him but recieved class credit for TA-ing). another is one from my PI at a neurophysiology lab i worked at for 2 years (he is now an assistant professor of biology at penn state, so technically a "science professor" right? but he's not from my undergrad institution), and the last is from my EMT course instructors after I graduated.


This is the ONE THING holding me back from submitting my primaries right now 🙁 I've got everything else together and could possibly even submit my primaries TODAY if i knew these letters were enough...

let me know what you guys think... :/
Click to expand...
Well I don't know why this is stopping you from submitting AMCAS. LORs prevent your secondary from being complete, not your primary. You can add letters later and assign them to schools later.
 
might be a dumb question, but I want to delete a letter entry but I already submitted my primary and got verified...is it true you can't delete letter entries after submitting? If so, will it make a difference if I just have my flawed letter entry with no letter uploaded and no schools assigned? Schools don't see your letter entries unless you assign them to that school, right?

Thanks for any help!
 
hello0 said:
might be a dumb question, but I want to delete a letter entry but I already submitted my primary and got verified...is it true you can't delete letter entries after submitting? If so, will it make a difference if I just have my flawed letter entry with no letter uploaded and no schools assigned? Schools don't see your letter entries unless you assign them to that school, right?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...

You cannot delete letter entries, but you can mark letters as no longer being submitted.

"Make a difference" how?
 
I dunno about "make a difference" but just, would it cause me any problems to just have this extra, incorrect letter entry on my primary?

Btw, thanks for your help!
 
hello0 said:
I dunno about "make a difference" but just, would it cause me any problems to just have this extra, incorrect letter entry on my primary?
Click to expand...

I don't think it will.
 
I have letters that were written in 2009 and 2010 because I was planning on applying during the app cycles but decided not to. I have all of my letter stored in my interfolio account. Since I am applying now, should I attempt to ask the letter writers for the same letter but with an updated date? Do outdated letters look bad to ADCOMs? Thanks
 
Pardon me if this question has been asked, but is it advised to send in D.O. letters of recommendation to M.D. schools?

I can tell them that I really like the DO philosophy, but a mere degree doesn't restrict my freedom to run my practice. I can still practice the D.O. philosophy with a M.D. degree. And the M.D. degree has a broader range of possibilities since I really want to become an ophthalmologist and a D.O. degree is hardly accepted into any ophthalmologist residency.
 
seraphkz said:
Pardon me if this question has been asked, but is it advised to send in D.O. letters of recommendation to M.D. schools?

I can tell them that I really like the DO philosophy, but a mere degree doesn't restrict my freedom to run my practice. I can still practice the D.O. philosophy with a M.D. degree. And the M.D. degree has a broader range of possibilities since I really want to become an ophthalmologist and a D.O. degree is hardly accepted into any ophthalmologist residency.
Click to expand...

If the person writing your recommendation letter really knows you well and can attest to your potential as a physician, I don't think the letters after his or her name make a difference.

You should not, however, be seeking a letter from a physician merely on the assumption that a letter from a physician somehow carries more weight than other letters.
 
mauberley said:
If the person writing your recommendation letter really knows you well and can attest to your potential as a physician, I don't think the letters after his or her name make a difference.

You should not, however, be seeking a letter from a physician merely on the assumption that a letter from a physician somehow carries more weight than other letters.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply. My physician does know me really well. However I know for sure that her letter contains a lot of information about Osteopathic Medicine. That is why I am not entirely sure if I should submit that letter to a M.D. school. What are your thoughts?
 
seraphkz said:
Thank you for your reply. My physician does know me really well. However I know for sure that her letter contains a lot of information about Osteopathic Medicine. That is why I am not entirely sure if I should submit that letter to a M.D. school. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I would think the content is inappropriate for your purposes (matriculation into an M.D. school). Can you ask her to leave out any osteopathic-specific content?
 
This might be a redundant question, but I am very confused about how the recommendation letter forwarding works with the AMCAS. So, this is the scenario.
My school has a letters service that keeps all of the recomendation letters at hand. I am guessing that we use their services to get all of the letters forwarded to AMCAS. I also know that AMCAS sends your primaries as soon as every section is complete, excluding the letters section. But then how do they know when to send your letters of recommendation to the schools of your choice? What if you do not have all the letters in at the same time? Do you also get to indcate which schools AMCAS should send the letters to? How does this work?

There are some threads from a couple years back about this, but I wasn't sure whether there have been any recent changes on how the letters processing works.
 
monkeyMD said:
This might be a redundant question, but I am very confused about how the recommendation letter forwarding works with the AMCAS. So, this is the scenario.
My school has a letters service that keeps all of the recomendation letters at hand. I am guessing that we use their services to get all of the letters forwarded to AMCAS. I also know that AMCAS sends your primaries as soon as every section is complete, excluding the letters section. But then how do they know when to send your letters of recommendation to the schools of your choice? What if you do not have all the letters in at the same time? Do you also get to indcate which schools AMCAS should send the letters to? How does this work?
There are some threads from a couple years back about this, but I wasn't sure whether there have been any recent changes on how the letters processing works.
Click to expand...


Forward all letters from your school to AMCAS. You do not have to have letters in all at the same time. Yes you can indicate which letters go where.

You can have up to 10 letter entries.

Read the instructions on LORs on AMCAS... it's all in there.
 
Merging related threads
monkeyMD said:
This might be a redundant question, but I am very confused about how the recommendation letter forwarding works with the AMCAS. So, this is the scenario.
My school has a letters service that keeps all of the recomendation letters at hand. I am guessing that we use their services to get all of the letters forwarded to AMCAS. I also know that AMCAS sends your primaries as soon as every section is complete, excluding the letters section. But then how do they know when to send your letters of recommendation to the schools of your choice? What if you do not have all the letters in at the same time? Do you also get to indcate which schools AMCAS should send the letters to? How does this work?

There are some threads from a couple years back about this, but I wasn't sure whether there have been any recent changes on how the letters processing works.
Click to expand...

CodeBlu said:
Forward all letters from your school to AMCAS. You do not have to have letters in all at the same time. Yes you can indicate which letters go where.

You can have up to 10 letter entries.

Read the instructions on LORs on AMCAS... it's all in there.
Click to expand...
 
I am really in the dark about this...

So you need your letters for your application to be complete. Can you receive interview invites before your letters are in or will schools only evaluate your application after it is completely complete???

please help! thanx
 
UMICHPremed said:
I am really in the dark about this...

So you need your letters for your application to be complete. Can you receive interview invites before your letters are in or will schools only evaluate your application after it is completely complete???

please help! thanx
Click to expand...

Most schools will not consider your application for interview invitations until your letters are in. There are only a handful of exceptions to this.
 
I have 6 letters lined up and I was wondering if they fulfilled al the requirements of most schools.

1. My physiology professors, whose class I got a soaring A in, had one on one office hours with every other week.

2. Research professor from UMichigan. He is a Howard Hughes Scholar, huge name in research, Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan. Did research in his lab for one year, and will be returning to his lab in the fall. Did the first year for credit and received a grade, A both semesters. Next year will be for pay.

3. Research Principle Investigator at a private research institution. Spent three summers working full-time, 45hr/wk.

4. Residence Hall, Hall Director. I am an RA and my hall director can speak to my ability to work with different people, my commitment to social justice, my crisis management.

5. Director of Science from the same private institution as No.3. Has known me for many years, have done much collaboration with his lab.

6. Spanish professor, who I took two courses with, both A's.


I figured that Nos. 1 and 2 would be my university science faculty, No. 4 and 6 are non-science professors, and No. 3 and 5 are professional letters.

My question is if No. 2 counts as a science faculty, or if I should find another professor. His title is Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and Urology, but I am not sure, since I technically did not have class with him, but did independent research for a grade.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
UMICHPremed said:
I am really in the dark about this...

So you need your letters for your application to be complete. Can you receive interview invites before your letters are in or will schools only evaluate your application after it is completely complete???

please help! thanx
Click to expand...

A fellow Wolverine!

Anyways, letters of rec are sent in with your secondary app. So, you can have your primary finished, everything else but the letters and the primary will get sent to schools. Then those schools will send you the secondaries. that's when you need to have all of your letters ready. Once they are ready and you submit your secondary, then you will start to be sent interviews.

So, in summary, you can submit your primary without the letters, but once the secondary rolls around, be prepared!

Cheers
 
GoBlue2012 said:
2. Research professor from UMichigan. He is a Howard Hughes Scholar, huge name in research, Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan. Did research in his lab for one year, and will be returning to his lab in the fall. Did the first year for credit and received a grade, A both semesters. Next year will be for pay.

...

My question is if No. 2 counts as a science faculty, or if I should find another professor. His title is Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and Urology, but I am not sure, since I technically did not have class with him, but did independent research for a grade.
Click to expand...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=10788541&postcount=6
 
Hi all,
I dont know if this has been asked before. I had asked my professor to write a letter about 3 weeks ago and then she said she would submit one at the end of that week (We met on a Monday). Since then I have sent her 2 reminder emails about it and since its summer i dont know if she is teaching any classes. Even if she would, I would not know her office hour timings. What should I do? When we met, she was really receptive and asked me soo many questions about my background and thus I got a feeling that she would write an exceptional letter. Also, she is my only non-science professor writer. Any insight on this issue will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
 
ugh sorry another LOR question...

I'm using Interfolio and told all my letter writers that I would be using it...most of my writers have had no problem uploading through them but I just got an email notification saying that my ochem prof uploaded straight to AMCAS even though I told him to upload to Interfolio...should I bother emailing him telling him to reupload to Interfolio? He wouldn't be annoyed by me, I know him very well and he's very nice but then again, it won't matter unless I ever need to use his letter again...just curious if anyone had this problem before?
 
I'm not applying yet but just wondering, do the 2 LORs from science professors have to be from professors you took a class with? what about a research "class" (did research with them and got course credit)?
 
I'm not sure if this has been answered already, but for the science prof, does it have to be someone from the bio/chem/physics department? i took a class in the psych department that counts as BCPM (neuropsych), can I use that professor (even though he is under the psych department)?
 
Hi, I have two questions about the AMCAS Letter Writer Application.

1. If my professors to submit my reference letter to through AMCAS Letter Writer Application, do they have to register an AAMC account first?

2. I know the letters need to be uploaded to AAMC as a PDF file. But I wonder in this way, how could the letter still be officially letter-headed and signed? Do my professors need to print the letter out and scan the letter to make a pdf file in order to do this?
 
Should I be worried about a very research heavy letter writer line-up?
They all know me very well and can attest to my personality on both personal and professional levels. But, they are all researchers and I am beginning to get very worried.

My background: Non-trad. Science intensive undergrad, PhD, postdoc, mom of one, 9 years of biomedical research experience, 3-4 months clinical volunteering, 1 year of non-clinical volunteering, lots of hobbies, no time to do anything more 🙁
 
Hi everyone,
I have a quick question about something which I am a little confused about, but I apologize in advance if the answer is written somewhere in this thread already. So I have submitted my AMCAS application, and it is currently "ready for review", and my transcripts etc are all received by AMCAS, the only thing I am missing is my LORs. I have them all in my possession at the moment, but given the current Canada Post strike, I had some problems with them all being literally "stuck in the mail", so I had to get new copies from everyone which I plan on Fed-Ex-ing out asap. My question is, does AMCAS need to have received my LORs in order for my application to be verified? It's my understanding that most schools need to have received them in order to put your secondary up for review... but I was hoping someone could clear this up for me, as obviously it would be great to get verified sooner rather than later to move this process along and working on my secondaries.
Thanks in advance for any help!
 
liluyuanlove said:
Hi, I have two questions about the AMCAS Letter Writer Application.

1. If my professors to submit my reference letter to through AMCAS Letter Writer Application, do they have to register an AAMC account first?

2. I know the letters need to be uploaded to AAMC as a PDF file. But I wonder in this way, how could the letter still be officially letter-headed and signed? Do my professors need to print the letter out and scan the letter to make a pdf file in order to do this?
Click to expand...

1) Yes.
2) Yes. Or, if the letterhead is electronically available they could insert it into the document as well. But a scanned PDF (with letterhead and signature) is fine.

freshstart12 said:
Should I be worried about a very research heavy letter writer line-up?
They all know me very well and can attest to my personality on both personal and professional levels. But, they are all researchers and I am beginning to get very worried.

My background: Non-trad. Science intensive undergrad, PhD, postdoc, mom of one, 9 years of biomedical research experience, 3-4 months clinical volunteering, 1 year of non-clinical volunteering, lots of hobbies, no time to do anything more 🙁
Click to expand...

Ideally, you want evaluators who can attest to your classroom abilities as well as any qualities that would speak to your potential in medicine. A diverse set of letters is helpful, but you also have to do the best you can with what you have. If you can't find others who can write you strong recommendations, then submit with what you have.

hpe said:
Hi everyone,
I have a quick question about something which I am a little confused about, but I apologize in advance if the answer is written somewhere in this thread already. So I have submitted my AMCAS application, and it is currently "ready for review", and my transcripts etc are all received by AMCAS, the only thing I am missing is my LORs. I have them all in my possession at the moment, but given the current Canada Post strike, I had some problems with them all being literally "stuck in the mail", so I had to get new copies from everyone which I plan on Fed-Ex-ing out asap. My question is, does AMCAS need to have received my LORs in order for my application to be verified? It's my understanding that most schools need to have received them in order to put your secondary up for review... but I was hoping someone could clear this up for me, as obviously it would be great to get verified sooner rather than later to move this process along and working on my secondaries.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Click to expand...

No.
 
mauberley,

Thank you so much for your answers! I just have one more question. Do you know if I need to submit any waiver forms to either AAMC or my professors to waive my right to see the letters?
 
i got an email from VirtualEvals saying my letters have been sent and received at AAMC/AMCAAS. do i just have to wait for them to update amcas for it to say that?
 
liluyuanlove said:
mauberley,

Thank you so much for your answers! I just have one more question. Do you know if I need to submit any waiver forms to either AAMC or my professors to waive my right to see the letters?
Click to expand...

It is not required by AMCAS. If any of your letter writers are unsure as to whether you would be able to read your letters, point them to https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/amcas/faqs/63226/faq_amcasletters.html where it says: "Under no circumstances will AMCAS provide applicants access to letters of evaluation."
 
Melomare17 said:
i got an email from VirtualEvals saying my letters have been sent and received at AAMC/AMCAAS. do i just have to wait for them to update amcas for it to say that?
Click to expand...

The confirmation email from AMCAS that it has received your letters is what you should care about, but at least you know that VE has completed its business.
 
mauberley said:
The confirmation email from AMCAS that it has received your letters is what you should care about, but at least you know that VE has completed its business.
Click to expand...

alright thanks!

edit: amcas sent the email saying they got it today!
 
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Sorry if this has been previously addressed, but in early May, I had a professor say he would write me a strong LOR and he would submit it by early June. However, he did not write it and now he is gone for the next few months. Would it look bad to medical schools if I withdraw his letter? I have another letter in place, but I am just afraid medical schools will see that his letter is no longer being sent and it may raise a red flag.
Thanks in advance
 
MMPman said:
Sorry if this has been previously addressed, but in early May, I had a professor say he would write me a strong LOR and he would submit it by early June. However, he did not write it and now he is gone for the next few months. Would it look bad to medical schools if I withdraw his letter? I have another letter in place, but I am just afraid medical schools will see that his letter is no longer being sent and it may raise a red flag.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I personally don't think it does. There are many reasons out of your control that you would not be able to provide a letter. I marked two letters as no longer being submitted and I do not believe it affected consideration of my application.
 
So AMCAS just received a letter packet from my undergrad institution. On my secondaries for several schools though the status for the letter packet is still "not received". Do I still submit my semi-completed secondaries and the schools will eventually access AMCAS, or is there a button on AMCAS to forward my letters to schools after receiving?
 
Last edited:
Slowpoke said:
So AMCAS just received a letter packet from my undergrad institution. On my secondaries for several schools though the status for the letter packet is still "not received". Do I still submit my semi-completed secondaries and the schools will eventually access AMCAS, or is there a button on AMCAS to forward my letters to schools after receiving?
Click to expand...

If AMCAS just received it, it hasn't yet been dispatched to the schools you have assigned it to. It's not an instantaneous process. You can submit your secondary application independently of the letters and the school will receive the letter packet when AMCAS sends it, which should be soon. No action is required on your part.
 
mauberley said:
If AMCAS just received it, it hasn't yet been dispatched to the schools you have assigned it to. It's not an instantaneous process. You can submit your secondary application independently of the letters and the school will receive the letter packet when AMCAS sends it, which should be soon. No action is required on your part.
Click to expand...

Great, thank you!
 
My school will be sending all my letters in a PACKET. Does this mean that I need to create entries as individual letters or just 1 as a letter packet? I am confused becasue I see that I only list the authors, and no additional information is requested, when I select the letter packet option. And who do I put as the primary contact? Just the career center that will be sending my letters?
 
monkeyMD said:
My school will be sending all my letters in a PACKET. Does this mean that I need to create entries as individual letters or just 1 as a letter packet? I am confused becasue I see that I only list the authors, and no additional information is requested, when I select the letter packet option. And who do I put as the primary contact? Just the career center that will be sending my letters?
Click to expand...

I advise you to pay attention to page 54 of the instruction manual:

Note:
1 Committee Letter = 1 letter entry
1 Letter Packet = 1 letter entry
1 Individual Letter = 1 letter entry
Click to expand...

The career center would be fine to list as a contact.
 
I have not submitted yet and lets say I have a letter packet entry right now with 5 people.

Let's say I submit right now, and do not have my letter packet sent out yet.
To complicate things, suppose that I have another letter writer who may or may not write me a letter. Let's say this person does end up writing me a letter, and it will go into my letter packet making a total of 6 people in that entry.

However, Amcas does not let me edit an individual letter entry so that 6th person's name would not be in there.

In order to avoid this, can I delete my previous entry, and come up with a new letter packet entry including the 6th author?
 
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