question about LORs

Started by njurkovi
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njurkovi

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5+ Year Member
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Does a school know how many LORs are expected?

For example, when 3 letters are required, but 4 are allowed (e.g. 2 PTs, 1 prof. are required and the 4th is non-specific), what happens if the first 3 incoming LORs do not include the 2nd required PT LOR? Does the school know that one more letter is expected, or do they start their evaluation on the 3 received LORs (which would from their perspective be "complete" in terms of the quantity of LORs, but would also be an inadequate selection, because it doesn't include 2 PTs)? This mostly applies to schools with rolling admission.
 
If you have requested the LOR, but they haven't submitted it yet, it will say "requested" and schools should see this. It is depends on the school if they'll start reviewing your application or wait until the last LOR is in. I would talk to the writer and remind them to submit it and communicate with the school about the situation.
 
I have a follow up question. Once the (first) application is submitted does ptcas wait for all LORs to be received or does it start transcript verification independently of LORs (provided, of course, that all grades have been entered / official transcripts received). In other words do these two 'waiting periods' happen in parallel or in sequence?
 
I have a follow up question. Once the (first) application is submitted does ptcas wait for all LORs to be received or does it start transcript verification independently of LORs (provided, of course, that all grades have been entered / official transcripts received). In other words do these two 'waiting periods' happen in parallel or in sequence?
Parallel. Transcript verification starts after you pay them. LOR receipt is a separate process.