Question about LoR

[russon12]

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If I have 3 letters of recommendation ready to go out now, but my fourth one wont be ready until august 30, should I apply with those 3 letters now or wait? The last letter is from a doctor that I shadowed, who I also did research under, but the research won't be ready for presentation until august 30 and he wants to be able to reference that in my letter for added weight. If I applied now, would I be able to send it in later as some sort of update or addition to my application?
If I can't do that, do you recommend applying now with the three I have (1 from a bio prof that doesnt know me that well, a strong one from my italian prof, and a strong one from a research mentor) or waiting for the last one (doctor I shadowed whose name might carry some weight as well)?

 

[CyrilFiggis]

He should be able to write your letter despite being 30 days out from the end of the project.

 

[russon12]

I am confused by your question and/or your confusion on how the process works.

You are assigning letters to schools and by doing so, you are telling them what letters to expect. Some, perhaps most schools wont consider your application complete until all letters that you have assigned are arrived. And not all schools wait for LORs in order to evaluate secondaries. Applicants do not and should not delay their secondaries due to a misperception on LORs

So my understanding of it is that I have my letters in Interfolio, I get them sent to AMCAS, and then I can assign those to schools from there. Assuming that's correct, could I turn in secondaries and the three letters now, and then when the fourth is completed, could I send it either through AMCAS or directly from Interfolio? Or is the application complete without adding more once the secondaries and assigned letters have arrived? I assume this is the case, and if it is, you then recommend sending my secondaries and the three letters as soon as possible, as opposed to waiting for the fourth letter, correct?

 

[russon12]

He should be able to write your letter despite being 30 days out from the end of the project.

Sorry for being unclear, it wouldn't really be the end of the project, it has only recently begun; it would really be the point we have something concrete, like an abstract. I did tell him how important it was to get the letters and complete application in asap, but he said that he wanted to wait until we had this on paper before writing something because it would make my letter that much stronger

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Sorry for being unclear, it wouldn't really be the end of the project, it has only recently begun; it would really be the point we have something concrete, like an abstract. I did tell him how important it was to get the letters and complete application in asap, but he said that he wanted to wait until we had this on paper before writing something because it would make my letter that much stronger

Meh. Not true

 

[russon12]

Meh. Not true

While I am inclined to believe you, there's really nothing I can do to change his mind! It's very frustrating, but I am not sure how to go about telling him I would like the letter earlier without seeming like I am invalidating his opinion. As per my initial question though, would you recommend waiting or submitting without his letter? And if I did submit without his letter would I be able to send it in via interfolio or somehow, or is the file, once secondaries and the assigned LoRs from amcas are sent in, unable to be amended?