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

[mauberley]

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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?

Sure. Except you can't delete the old entry, you'd just mark it as no longer being sent. Same effect.

 

[luckyducky87]

I apologize if this has been asked already:

At my school, we have to gather our professors' letters ourselves on Interfolio. Our prehealth advisor also uploads her letter onto my Interfolio account. Then I create a "packet" of letters myself and send them off to Interfolio.

But for instance, one school specifies:
(1) multiple letters: Choose this option if you are having three faculty members submit separate letters on your behalf. If you choose this option, at least two letters should be from science faculty who have had reasonably close contact with you. It is not helpful to have letters from instructors of large classes where little more than the final grade information is provided. Faculty members with whom you worked in smaller, upper-level courses often are better able to provide you with helpful letters of evaluation.
(2) premedical advisor or letter packet: Choose this option if your college is going to submit a premedical committee letter on your behalf, or if your premedical advisor will submit a letter on your behalf, or if your premedical advisor will submit a letter accompanied by a collection of letters by faculty and others on your behalf, or if a college or university will submit a packet of letters on your behalf.

In my case, is it the second one? I guess I was just confused because in the second one, they make it sound like it has to be the premed advisor/committee/university compiling the letters on my behalf, which is not the case...

 

[mauberley]

I apologize if this has been asked already:

At my school, we have to gather our professors' letters ourselves on Interfolio. Our prehealth advisor also uploads her letter onto my Interfolio account. Then I create a "packet" of letters myself and send them off to Interfolio.

But for instance, one school specifies:
(1) multiple letters: Choose this option if you are having three faculty members submit separate letters on your behalf. If you choose this option, at least two letters should be from science faculty who have had reasonably close contact with you. It is not helpful to have letters from instructors of large classes where little more than the final grade information is provided. Faculty members with whom you worked in smaller, upper-level courses often are better able to provide you with helpful letters of evaluation.
(2) premedical advisor or letter packet: Choose this option if your college is going to submit a premedical committee letter on your behalf, or if your premedical advisor will submit a letter on your behalf, or if your premedical advisor will submit a letter accompanied by a collection of letters by faculty and others on your behalf, or if a college or university will submit a packet of letters on your behalf.

In my case, is it the second one? I guess I was just confused because in the second one, they make it sound like it has to be the premed advisor/committee/university compiling the letters on my behalf, which is not the case...

Second option.

 

[NotCrazy]

Will AMCAS send my writers a prompt upon submission? One prof told me he would wait for that to write it...

 

[mauberley]

Will AMCAS send my writers a prompt upon submission? One prof told me he would wait for that to write it...

No. The request form only gives details about the AMCAS letter forwarding service and how to go about sending the letter.

A quick Google search yields some useful links if your professor needs guidance as to content of a letter. Here's one to get you started: https://career.berkeley.edu/letter/letterguidelines.stm#medical

 

[arfc6]

Hey, so AMCAS received my committee letter a few days ago via online submission but apparently schools are rejecting it because it was either not on official letterhead or not signed. Has anyone had a similar problem, can you just ask the committee chair to resubmit? I found this gem in the AMCAS manual:

​

Once a letter is received by AMCAS it cannot be deleted or edited by any party. Any letters that follow an original letter with the same AMCAS Letter ID will be appended to the original letter and sent to all medical schools that the letter is designated to.

So I guess the letter can be resubmitted and schools will just have two copies one with letterhead and one without? Let me know if you have experience this problem.

Rant: Also this is off topic but I'm beginning to loathe this whole process, I just worked on secondary applications today that asked me about the population in every town I've lived in since birth and to explain my speeding ticket (answer: I was speeding wtf else do you want me to say? I'm sorry that I was speeding and realize that I'm a terrible person for breaking the rules). The Application process is probably the least fun way I could think of to spend over 1k dollars. I think paying someone a thousand bucks to poke me with sharp sticks would be a better time.

 

[filthyd]

I had a question for you all.

Can you submit letters of recommendation through AMCAS post-submission of your secondary?

I am realizing the my AMCAS letters are not terribly adequate for most schools (need one more science academic letter), but have already sent in secondaries to 5 schools.

I have another one being written that I would like to add. This is not a problem for the remaining schools I have not sent in secondaries for, but how do I go about doing it for the others? Is uploading it to AMCAS enough for them to receive it?

Thanks!

 

[mauberley]

I had a question for you all.

Can you submit letters of recommendation through AMCAS post-submission of your secondary?

I am realizing the my AMCAS letters are not terribly adequate for most schools (need one more science academic letter), but have already sent in secondaries to 5 schools.

I have another one being written that I would like to add. This is not a problem for the remaining schools I have not sent in secondaries for, but how do I go about doing it for the others? Is uploading it to AMCAS enough for them to receive it?

Thanks!

It should be, but you should also contact the schools in question to confirm with them that they will accept additional letters beyond what has already been added to your file.

 

[Slowpoke]

The LOR that I got to fulfill my non-science professor is from an English Professor that I took my first semester at community college, she has an M.A.

Is there any insight on whether or not schools discriminate against LORs from non-PhDs? Will this adversely affect my application at all? Or is this a case-by-case basis depending on the school?

 

[chaser0]

I have a separate LOR that I'm sending along side my composite letter (both send from the same university, same career center electronically).

I was wondering, will I have to enter a separate entry on the AMCAS from the composite letter?
They are sent together in one package if I request it. But it is not officially a part of my composite letter.

 

[MermaidMD]

I'm another poor fool who found out the hard way that one of my professors had submitted my letter unsigned and not on letterhead (SO frustrating by the way--we have to waive our right to see them and then they're done wrong). I called AMCAS and they said that if the letter writer resubmits the letter with the same letter ID, the new letter will superceed the old one. I then called the med schools that had already received this letter and the general consensus was that they do periodic "sweeps of the system" and will pull any new letters and attach them to my file.

I'm struggling now not to freak out that my last two letters have been lost in the mail or something! My last letter of rec was submitted via snail mail last Friday and as of today, still no word that the letter was received! The corrected letter mentioned above was put in snail mail yesterday afternoon. Because I've already submitted a bunch of secondaries, I have some serious ants in my pants over these last two letters being taken care of. Does anyone have any insight as to the current delay for AMCAS to verify reception of letters received via USPS?

 

[medicman327]

Hey guys, here's my question. Do you need to have all letters marked received before any of them can go out for secondaries? I'm thinking about just maxing out my letter requests with people I know will write me an LOR if I should need it later. For example, if I get a secondary from Jefferson Medical College where they want an LOR from a prof in bio, physics, chem, and the humanities, I'll go see if I can get a letter of rec, otherwise, I'll wait on those. What do you think? Redundant since I will have to resubmit anyway to assign letters each time?

Any takers?

-Medicman

 

[mauberley]

Hey guys, here's my question. Do you need to have all letters marked received before any of them can go out for secondaries? I'm thinking about just maxing out my letter requests with people I know will write me an LOR if I should need it later. For example, if I get a secondary from Jefferson Medical College where they want an LOR from a prof in bio, physics, chem, and the humanities, I'll go see if I can get a letter of rec, otherwise, I'll wait on those. What do you think? Redundant since I will have to resubmit anyway to assign letters each time?

Any takers?

-Medicman

It's not all-or-nothing. If a letter is in the system, it gets sent to any schools you've designated to receive it. It's not conditional on anything else.

 

[PA transition]

hey guys if my school is sending out my letters of reccs from the doctors that i worked with, would i list those letters under letter packet?? or individual letters?

thanks!

 

[mauberley]

hey guys if my school is sending out my letters of reccs from the doctors that i worked with, would i list those letters under letter packet?? or individual letters?

thanks!

Ask your school if they are including them in your packet. Presumably, they are and so you would list them in your letter packet entry.

 

[PA transition]

thank you!!

 

[Handinhand]

So I'm filling out my secondaries and for some schools they want you to list your letter writers in their secondary. Do you still assign them the letters in AMCAS then as well?

The reason I ask is because I'm still waiting on one LOR (should have it in a week or two) for one last science professor and I don't want to upload any LORs to AMCAS until I have them all because I don't want any schools to complete my app before I have this letter. For the schools that ask nothing about this, I've just been submitting my secondaries and then I'm assuming I just won't be complete with them until I authorize my LORs for them to read in a week or two.

 

[mauberley]

So I'm filling out my secondaries and for some schools they want you to list your letter writers in their secondary. Do you still assign them the letters in AMCAS then as well?

The reason I ask is because I'm still waiting on one LOR (should have it in a week or two) for one last science professor and I don't want to upload any LORs to AMCAS until I have them all because I don't want any schools to complete my app before I have this letter. For the schools that ask nothing about this, I've just been submitting my secondaries and then I'm assuming I just won't be complete with them until I authorize my LORs for them to read in a week or two.

Yes.

 

[CougarMD]

So I'm filling out my secondaries and for some schools they want you to list your letter writers in their secondary. Do you still assign them the letters in AMCAS then as well?

The reason I ask is because I'm still waiting on one LOR (should have it in a week or two) for one last science professor and I don't want to upload any LORs to AMCAS until I have them all because I don't want any schools to complete my app before I have this letter. For the schools that ask nothing about this, I've just been submitting my secondaries and then I'm assuming I just won't be complete with them until I authorize my LORs for them to read in a week or two.

Yes.

Merging related threads

 

[CougarMD]

Hey guys, here's my question. Do you need to have all letters marked received before any of them can go out for secondaries? I'm thinking about just maxing out my letter requests with people I know will write me an LOR if I should need it later. For example, if I get a secondary from Jefferson Medical College where they want an LOR from a prof in bio, physics, chem, and the humanities, I'll go see if I can get a letter of rec, otherwise, I'll wait on those. What do you think? Redundant since I will have to resubmit anyway to assign letters each time?

Any takers?

-Medicman

It's not all-or-nothing. If a letter is in the system, it gets sent to any schools you've designated to receive it. It's not conditional on anything else.

hey guys if my school is sending out my letters of reccs from the doctors that i worked with, would i list those letters under letter packet?? or individual letters?

thanks!

Ask your school if they are including them in your packet. Presumably, they are and so you would list them in your letter packet entry.

thank you!!

Merging related threads

 

[projectpat]

Searched for posts related to 'addresses' but nothing came up..

This may sound like a silly question but for adding entries on my AMCAS for personal MD letters, does the allotted space for address ask for the Hospital information or their personal information? I couldn't possibly imagine it to require their personal address and info but I just don't know. Also for title would I just write their speciality? Like "Orthopedic Surgeon" ? and also for organization name would that be the Hospitals name?

 

[mauberley]

Searched for posts related to 'addresses' but nothing came up..

This may sound like a silly question but for adding entries on my AMCAS for personal MD letters, does the allotted space for address ask for the Hospital information or their personal information? I couldn't possibly imagine it to require their personal address and info but I just don't know. Also for title would I just write their speciality? Like "Orthopedic Surgeon" ? and also for organization name would that be the Hospitals name?

1) You would put their business address.
2) For Title, their specialty would be fine.
3) Yes, the organization would be the hospital's name.

 

[projectpat]

1) You would put their business address.
2) For Title, their specialty would be fine.
3) Yes, the organization would be the hospital's name.

Thanks for the quick response Mauberley!

 

[l8nightsvt]

I currently have 4 letters of recommendation, 3 from core science professors, and 1 from a professor in a nutrition/exercise class. Is it possible that some schools would consider the nutrition/exercise class as "science" and not process my application since many schools require one from a "non-science" professor?

I just realized this possibility, and it would be very late to ask for a new LOR now so I'm really hoping that's not the case, any advice would help!

 

[Cinclus]

I currently have 4 letters of recommendation, 3 from core science professors, and 1 from a professor in a nutrition/exercise class. Is it possible that some schools would consider the nutrition/exercise class as "science" and not process my application since many schools require one from a "non-science" professor?

I just realized this possibility, and it would be very late to ask for a new LOR now so I'm really hoping that's not the case, any advice would help!

I think you'll be OK with using it as a non-science letter. Also, this will likely get moved to the official LOR questions thread.

 

[StoicJosher]

And many schools aren't too strict on the two science - one non science rule..

 

[macsta]

I currently have 4 letters of recommendation, 3 from core science professors, and 1 from a professor in a nutrition/exercise class. Is it possible that some schools would consider the nutrition/exercise class as "science" and not process my application since many schools require one from a "non-science" professor?

I just realized this possibility, and it would be very late to ask for a new LOR now so I'm really hoping that's not the case, any advice would help!

I would call some schools. Traditionally, science letters are from Bio, Chem, or sometimes physics. I think you will be fine.

 

[paelie]

hope everyone's doing well in the thick of it all!

a letter writer recently finished a letter for me and, although i did not ask to see it and on my info. packet i gave to him, i wrote i was waiving the right to see it, he had his secretary send it to me. i think they assumed that i was going to take care of the sending. when i told the secretary that it would be great if she could upload the letter, she said she would, but a week later emailed saying that she was not able to. the exact reason wasn't mentioned, but i'm thinking it's something with the browsers that amcas supports. i want to get the letter there quickly and upload is the fastest way, so
would it be weird to ask now if that i could just upload the letter myself?
i think they initially obviously intended me to deal with since they sent me the actual file.

Thanks!

 

[mauberley]

hope everyone's doing well in the thick of it all!

a letter writer recently finished a letter for me and, although i did not ask to see it and on my info. packet i gave to him, i wrote i was waiving the right to see it, he had his secretary send it to me. i think they assumed that i was going to take care of the sending. when i told the secretary that it would be great if she could upload the letter, she said she would, but a week later emailed saying that she was not able to. the exact reason wasn't mentioned, but i'm thinking it's something with the browsers that amcas supports. i want to get the letter there quickly and upload is the fastest way, so
would it be weird to ask now if that i could just upload the letter myself?
i think they initially obviously intended me to deal with since they sent me the actual file.

Thanks!

I would either find a third party who could assist them or advise them to mail it to AMCAS, if only to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

 

[Geekchick921]

I currently have 4 letters of recommendation, 3 from core science professors, and 1 from a professor in a nutrition/exercise class. Is it possible that some schools would consider the nutrition/exercise class as "science" and not process my application since many schools require one from a "non-science" professor?

I just realized this possibility, and it would be very late to ask for a new LOR now so I'm really hoping that's not the case, any advice would help!

I think you'll be OK with using it as a non-science letter. Also, this will likely get moved to the official LOR questions thread.

And many schools aren't too strict on the two science - one non science rule..

I would call some schools. Traditionally, science letters are from Bio, Chem, or sometimes physics. I think you will be fine.

Merging into the Official LoR Thread.

 

[propadex]

I am having a hard time figuring out how to submit my LOR's through AMCAS. My school will send a packet letter to AMCAS soon (still waiting on my last prof). So on my AMCAS application, I chose the Letter packet option, but it asks me to fill out additional information for a Primary contact/Author. What am I supposed to put for that info? I assume that the names of my professors who actually wrote the letters will be added into the "Additional Authors" section. Thanks in advance!

 

[mauberley]

I am having a hard time figuring out how to submit my LOR's through AMCAS. My school will send a packet letter to AMCAS soon (still waiting on my last prof). So on my AMCAS application, I chose the Letter packet option, but it asks me to fill out additional information for a Primary contact/Author. What am I supposed to put for that info? I assume that the names of my professors who actually wrote the letters will be added into the "Additional Authors" section. Thanks in advance!

For primary contact, you could list someone in the office assembling your packet.

 

[cinematographie]

a couple of days ago i created an entry for a new letter writer and even saved the letter form onto my desktop. i signed into the application today, and saw that the entry had been deleted. so, i created an identical entry, and again, saved the form. i logged out and signed back in, and it was again gone. anyone know why this is happening? i'm going to call amcas tomorrow, but was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. thanks!

 

[mauberley]

a couple of days ago i created an entry for a new letter writer and even saved the letter form onto my desktop. i signed into the application today, and saw that the entry had been deleted. so, i created an identical entry, and again, saved the form. i logged out and signed back in, and it was again gone. anyone know why this is happening? i'm going to call amcas tomorrow, but was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. thanks!

You need to re-certify your app.

 

[joeshmo27]

That's because you already submitted your application, and for any changes to take after that you have to submit it again. Go to Main Menu and Submit, it will tell you what changed and that's it, very easy.

 

[Schizotypy]

I'm another poor fool who found out the hard way that one of my professors had submitted my letter unsigned and not on letterhead (SO frustrating by the way--we have to waive our right to see them and then they're done wrong). I called AMCAS and they said that if the letter writer resubmits the letter with the same letter ID, the new letter will superceed the old one. I then called the med schools that had already received this letter and the general consensus was that they do periodic "sweeps of the system" and will pull any new letters and attach them to my file.

I'm struggling now not to freak out that my last two letters have been lost in the mail or something! My last letter of rec was submitted via snail mail last Friday and as of today, still no word that the letter was received! The corrected letter mentioned above was put in snail mail yesterday afternoon. Because I've already submitted a bunch of secondaries, I have some serious ants in my pants over these last two letters being taken care of. Does anyone have any insight as to the current delay for AMCAS to verify reception of letters received via USPS?

I've been going through a gigantic ordeal with THREE of my letters being unsigned.

For what it's worth, when I contacted AMCAS about this they said that new letters received under the same letter ID will be appended to the original letter; they will just get each copy of the letter.

I had 3 of my profs re-write and re-send their letters to Interfolio to be sent to AMCAS. One of the letters was sent via USPS to Interfolio and has supposedly not been received after two full weeks. One of the letters I sent from Interfolio to AMCAS has taken over 2 days to process, and of all the times I've sent letters IF-> AMCAS, I've never seen it take over 2 days.

It's possible that they are just swamped with LORs right now.

 

[EvilSponge]

So when exactly do the recommendations get submitted?
I already submitted AMCAS, but am waiting for my school to submit their committee letter. Once received, do I have to submit AMCAS again?

 

[mauberley]

So when exactly do the recommendations get submitted?
I already submitted AMCAS, but am waiting for my school to submit their committee letter. Once received, do I have to submit AMCAS again?

Assuming you have assigned schools to receive the letter, no, you do not have to re-submit.

 

[jmath27]

Looking for a second opinion:

I asked for a letter in Feburary from a professor who I thought was enthusiastically willing to write me a letter. We both mutually agreed that having a deadline of July 1st would suffice. I went ahead and gave him all of the material he would need in order to write my letter.

However, despite a reminder email mid June (with no response) and another email July 1st (asking about whether or not he received my other email), I recieved a response stating that he needed all of my material... again.

The thing I'm having an issue with, is that he's the last writer I need for my LOR. I received my secondary July 1st and I'm trying to stay within the 2 week window of having my application complete (deadline is August 15th for KU EDP applicants). I finished the application a few days ago, have 4/5 of my letters in, and he's the only one holding up my application from being complete (since I need to have everything, LOR included, in my app in order to be considered complete).

I guess what I'm asking is what would anyone else do in this situation? I was planning on emailing him again on the 14th, but I don't want to make it sound like I'm impatient, or pissed (even though I am since he's holding up my application).

 

[mauberley]

Looking for a second opinion:

I asked for a letter in Feburary from a professor who I thought was enthusiastically willing to write me a letter. We both mutually agreed that having a deadline of July 1st would suffice. I went ahead and gave him all of the material he would need in order to write my letter.

However, despite a reminder email mid June (with no response) and another email July 1st (asking about whether or not he received my other email), I recieved a response stating that he needed all of my material... again.

The thing I'm having an issue with, is that he's the last writer I need for my LOR. I received my secondary July 1st and I'm trying to stay within the 2 week window of having my application complete (deadline is August 15th for KU EDP applicants). I finished the application a few days ago, have 4/5 of my letters in, and he's the only one holding up my application from being complete (since I need to have everything, LOR included, in my app in order to be considered complete).

I guess what I'm asking is what would anyone else do in this situation? I was planning on emailing him again on the 14th, but I don't want to make it sound like I'm impatient, or pissed (even though I am since he's holding up my application).

I would escalate it past email. Try to contact him by phone, or if possible, in person. Not to be pushy, but to impress on him your need for this letter. I think some degree of demanding is tolerable in this situation -- you and he agreed on a timeline well in advance and he's slipping.

 

[drziggy]

Right now, I am planning to include the following LORs in the packet with my committee letter (the only letter I'll be sending to AMCAS). Is this too many??

1. PI - worked under for 3 years
2. Science Prof
3. Science Prof
4. English Prof
5. MD with whom I did extensive shadowing (over several months)
6. Advisor of fairly big/important non-medical volunteer activity

These all seem really important, but I feel as though, when combined with the committee letter, it's a bit much. Should I cut one?

 

[angleslam08]

In email from amcas confirming letters were received it says:

AMCAS has received a Letter of Evaluation in support of your application to the 2012 entering class.

- Does that imply it is only one letter? This was supposed to be a letter packet, but the wording of message makes me think otherwise even though I know for a fact it should be. Do they distinguish between receiving A letter versus a letter packet?

 

[mauberley]

In email from amcas confirming letters were received it says:

AMCAS has received a Letter of Evaluation in support of your application to the 2012 entering class.

- Does that imply it is only one letter? This was supposed to be a letter packet, but the wording of message makes me think otherwise even though I know for a fact it should be. Do they distinguish between receiving A letter versus a letter packet?

It's a form letter. Relax.

 

[DunKno]

I have 5 letters total, 1 which is coming in later than the others. Is it possible for me to send in 4 letters as one packet, and then send in the 1 letter later as another packet. (This way I have two packet entries in AMCAS. I say packet because they are being prepared by my career center). Will I be able to apply all 5 letters to schools even if they are separate entries like this?

 

[mauberley]

I have 5 letters total, 1 which is coming in later than the others. Is it possible for me to send in 4 letters as one packet, and then send in the 1 letter later as another packet. (This way I have two packet entries in AMCAS. I say packet because they are being prepared by my career center). Will I be able to apply all 5 letters to schools even if they are separate entries like this?

I can't see why not.

 

[adnap888]

I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but I'm new to this. Based on the verification thread, I'm set to be verified probably around July 20. My letters of rec will probably not be done until August 10 because one of my professors is on vacation. Do all schools send me secondaries post-verification but pre-letters (besides the schools who sent me secondaries pre-verification)? Do some schools wait for AMCAS+letters to review before sending secondaries? If so, what schools do that? Is August 10 really late?

 

[Cinematographer]

EDIT: Ignore, the user above has pretty much the same question as do I.

This has probably been answered before a thousand times but: do most schools consider your primary w/o the committee letter/LORs? My unhelpful advisor claims that he has had system issues trying to issue my committee letter (which was completed a long time ago). So while I haven't been verified with AMCAS, my TMDSAS app has already been processed.

The best I can hope is that he will solve this issue by next week, but I am just wondering how much of a disadvantage it can be to submit an "incomplete" primary"

 

[Jwalker]

So just 2 science and 1 non science? A doctor LOR isn't needed?

 

[angleslam08]

It's a form letter. Relax.

now I am relaxed! 😀...lol, thanks for answering little questions like this, definitely planning on returning favor for sdn peeps next cycle.

 

[jch1989]

1) I did search through this forum and found that some people asked a similar type question, but no straight-out answer was given. I already submitted my secondaries (I "certified") to some schools but my letters have not been received by AMCAs yet. Is this going to be a problem? I submitted the secondaries because I thought that since most of the schools said they would only be receiving LORs through AMCAS, the letters would be forwarded to the schools and then my app would eventually be marked as complete. Are schools not going to review my app now because of this mistake?

2. Has anyone ever marked a letter as "not being sent" but then still had the LOR author send the letter anyway? Does the letter still become marked as received and sent out to all the schools that you've assigned it to?

3. Is it possible to send schools a combination of a letter packet + 1 individual letter? Or does it have to be either/or (just 1 packet OR a combination of 3 indv letters)?

Thanks for your help!