OH NO! Letter of Rec Horror!!

[RyanRyan]

Ok ok ok.. I'm not suppose to have done this, but I asked my bio teacher to write me a LOR and have it send to my house so I can send it to the school myself along with my others LORs... the envelope was thin and my light in my room is bright and I noticed I could read what was written.

Great letter of rec.. (rare student who listens.. asks great questions in office hours.. great team player in lab.. great guy)

But in one sentence he write Mike instead of Ryan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What should I do??

Its otherwise a great letter.. maybe the admissions officers will just see it as a brainfart on my prof's behalf? Or should I open it up, confirm what i saw in the light and rip it up?

 

[RyanRyan]

Anyone? I think i'm screwed and I don't want to apply anymore this session!!

Agh! I don't know what to do because its only the sup LOR for UOP but I think he used the same one for the Pharmcas.. and thats already been recieved.

 

[ethyl]

Send it in anyways. Mike, Ryan.. close enough... they may be relying more on social security numbers than names.

 

[RyanRyan]

Are you serious? I'm freaking out.. I'm thinking of cancelling half of my apps (all my reach schools) and i'm only applying to schools on rolling admissions since I'm turning in my app early

 

[RachGator]

Breathe. The admissions committees get so many letters that they have to see mistakes like this happen. It is your pharmacas number that really matters. If that is okay, you should be okay. Good !

 

[acetyl]

It looks worse on the recommenders part than on yours. The admissions people are part of academia just like the recommender and thus understand that these things happen. Why should you worry, you never saw it, remember?

 

[Foreseer]

Hey I'm sending in my pharmcas application at the end of this month. Am I considered a late applicant? I sweared that I'd turn it in in June but I procrastinated...and now I'm worried.

 

[ginephre]

Hey I'm sending in my pharmcas application at the end of this month. Am I considered a late applicant? I sweared that I'd turn it in in June but I procrastinated...and now I'm worried.

OMG!!!!!! chill out! a "late" applicant would be someone who turns it in the day it's due! you'll be ok, trust me. i didnt turn mine in until november and i got in everywhere, even schools with rolling admissions!

 

[Ijeoma]

But in one sentence he write Mike instead of Ryan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mike, Ryan, Josh, Dave, they all the same. four-letter words. lol.
But for real, i dont think its a biggie. They might think its your middle name or something.

 

[senzabee]

I think that some schools will understand that mistakes happen...but I've also heard that some schools, a wrong name is a bad sign. They said that some professors simply use template LORs and just switch name of the student, which of course I'm not saying your teacher did...and that seeing wrong names is a sign that your professor had nothing significant to say about you so he just used a generic letter and not a personalized letter. It's not to say you weren't great because the letter he wrote had good comments, but does that make sense?

If I were you, maybe you can make up some sort of thing like, "Oh, UOP now wants two copies of your LOR" and have him send you another one, haha. Maybe this time he'll reread your letter and it'll be correct. Sorry that that's the best I could think of, but good luck with this!

 

[RyanRyan]

Thanks guys.. I think i'm just going to let it go because there's nothing I can do... because yeah.. I shouldn't know about this in the first place! Well thanks again guys...

And if anyone else has anything else to say about this situation.. good or bad.. please tell me.. for some reason I just want to hear anything anyone has to say.

 

[RyanRyan]

So maybe the letter of rec won't work to my favor, which is a shame because it was a pretty good letter of rec. But I was wondering how bad will it hurt me? I feel like now I have no shot at UCSF, whereas before I had a 1/25 chance or so..

He wrote some pretty personal things though, like how I"m quiet and unassuming but I get people together and get the job done in my lab group. Its just one section when he says "form my experience in both X university and teaching at X university, mike is easily in the top 10% students"

The rest he says Ryan Ryan Ryan.. in every sentence.

I don't know.

 

[Gizmo]

he says "form my experience in both X university and teaching at X university, mike is easily in the top 10% students"

The rest he says Ryan Ryan Ryan.. in every sentence.

Well, this makes the professor look like an absent-minded professor, to me at least. It does not make you look bad at all.

Like someone said previously, the adcom knows that professors have a lot going on, so I'm sure that it will be no surprise to them that your professor goofed a tiny bit.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

-G

 

[RyanRyan]

Thanks for all the words guys!

I'm still paranoid and I've read the entire letter now..

here is what it says...

-------------------------------------------------

REMOVED.. PM me if you want to see it

----------------------------------------------------

I'm thinking he just copied and pasted portions of the letter of rec for sure (like the Michigan state part), but there are definately anecdotes like me being quiet.. i'm sure he doesn't write that for everyone you know? I don't know.. I guess I can't do anything.. but I've read online that this is the sort of the thing that really hurts an applicant bigtime.. but you guys are saying otherwise so thanks for the kind words.

Anymore opinions on the actual letter?

 

[AnnaLIU2010]

Just tell your prof the truth. Sure he would write a new letter.

 

[PolarBear21]

I think the problem with him is that the prof already sent the letter to pharmcas. Even if his professor understands and doesn't mind that he opened the letter that was suppose to be confidential.. would he still be able to retract it?

 

[BiOGoly]

Ok ok ok.. I'm not suppose to have done this, but I asked my bio teacher to write me a LOR and have it send to my house so I can send it to the school myself along with my others LORs... the envelope was thin and my light in my room is bright and I noticed I could read what was written.

Great letter of rec.. (rare student who listens.. asks great questions in office hours.. great team player in lab.. great guy)

But in one sentence he write Mike instead of Ryan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What should I do??

Its otherwise a great letter.. maybe the admissions officers will just see it as a brainfart on my prof's behalf? Or should I open it up, confirm what i saw in the light and rip it up?

It's pretty obvious that this is a form letter your prof has saved on his computer, he probably replaces the name every time someone asks him for an LOR and he just goofed and forgot to replace the name in one spot. With the amount of applications schools get, i'm sure most won't even notice the goof.

 

[senzabee]

Well, if this is just a mistake with the letter actually sent to you, then in a couple of days, email him asking if he had mailed it because you "hadn't received it yet." Then ask him politely after he replies if he could send you another one, and make sure to thank him a million times if it turns out fixed

 

[RyanRyan]

No its a UOP's supplemental application LOR.. I think he just used the same one for the pharmcas because I read his Loma Linda one and its exactly the same. So I think he already submitted the LOR to pharmcas. The UOP letter was sent to me because I requested to have it sent to me.. so I could send it to UOP directly.

Does anyone know if teachers can retract their LORS on pharmcas??

 

[fidelio]

I've been told by Pharmcas that once your LOR is submitted to Pharmcas, you cannot remove it. But I think it's cause I already esubmitted mine.

You should just call Pharmcas.

 

[pinkuru]

OMG!!!!!! chill out! a "late" applicant would be someone who turns it in the day it's due! you'll be ok, trust me. i didnt turn mine in until november and i got in everywhere, even schools with rolling admissions!

hey, ginephre, how did plan out your process of filling out the application? I just started thinking about the apps this week and I was wondering on how fast a pace I need to work on them... my school starts at the end of sept and the schoolwork gets crazy