Re-send Committee packet?

[Jeffs]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey guys, I have a somewhat unusual situation. I applied in late July and have already received an interview this cycle. I have recently been contacting all of the schools from which I had not heard back regarding my application (whether it was complete, sent for review, etc). Admissions at UNLV indicated that the committee packet they received from me only contained two letters, while they required at least three. Both of the letters in the packet were from science professors. There were no issues with the LOR from the OMFS I shadowed.

A letter from the medical director of a clinic at which I volunteered was also supposed to be part of the packet. My program director/adviser at school said that he would include it as part of the committee packet because my volunteering (and later shadowing) was part of a program through my school for which I received a grade. It was a way for me to include this letter in my application when AADSAS would not allow me to enter another separate letter. I have worked very closely with the director and think that he wrote me a glowing recommendation.

So, here's the problem - apparently my program adviser at school did not include the letter in the packet he sent out with my application. Since the packet still contained two letters from science professors, it fulfilled the requirements of most schools. In UNLV's case, admissions told me that it would be okay to have the third letter emailed to them by my adviser, and that letterhead/signature would be enough to authenticate it. So, my question is... what do I do with all of the other schools? Can I contact AADSAS and see if there is a way for them to add this letter to the committee packet if my adviser sends it to them? Is this even worth it, given that most schools have had my file under review for a while now? Still, since I imagine some schools start late (*cough* UCLA), would it be worth it to have it added to my AADSAS just for them?

If anyone has had a similar situation, or just had some advice for me, I'd really appreciate your input!

 

[Jeffs]

Bump. Anyone at all have any advice?

 

[periopocket]

Do you still have room to add a letter via aadsas...sorry I don't quite understand that part, remember you have two slots: 1 committy and 2 extra....If not I would have the professor email it to each school that requires 3...

 

[Jeffs]

I don't have room to add it. I believe the AADSAS allows either 4 individual letters or one committee letter + 1 additional (dentist shadowing) letter.

 

[periopocket]

Yes, this is correct! Well it would depend on how many schools you applied to..If it were me I would be proactive and just ask your professor/dentist to write you a letter, print out X number of copies and envelope them and send them to each dental school designation...emails are easily ignored, a hard copy is always better!

 

[Jeffs]

Will do. Thanks for the advice! 🙂 I'll check to see which schools would process the letters (some are adamant about not sending anything outside of AADSAS) and try to get it sent out ASAP!

 

[periopocket]

Mailing is your best option Im telling you...I went out of my way to mail my summer grade transcripts to a bunch of schools, and I netted 2 additional interviews on top of what I already had, and offered me some addional protection from rejection from schools on the cusp..mail is my best advice! GL

 

[jojohygienist]

Hey guys, I have a somewhat unusual situation. I applied in late July and have already received an interview this cycle. I have recently been contacting all of the schools from which I had not heard back regarding my application (whether it was complete, sent for review, etc). Admissions at UNLV indicated that the committee packet they received from me only contained two letters, while they required at least three. Both of the letters in the packet were from science professors. There were no issues with the LOR from the OMFS I shadowed.

A letter from the medical director of a clinic at which I volunteered was also supposed to be part of the packet. My program director/adviser at school said that he would include it as part of the committee packet because my volunteering (and later shadowing) was part of a program through my school for which I received a grade. It was a way for me to include this letter in my application when AADSAS would not allow me to enter another separate letter. I have worked very closely with the director and think that he wrote me a glowing recommendation.

So, here's the problem - apparently my program adviser at school did not include the letter in the packet he sent out with my application. Since the packet still contained two letters from science professors, it fulfilled the requirements of most schools. In UNLV's case, admissions told me that it would be okay to have the third letter emailed to them by my adviser, and that letterhead/signature would be enough to authenticate it. So, my question is... what do I do with all of the other schools? Can I contact AADSAS and see if there is a way for them to add this letter to the committee packet if my adviser sends it to them? Is this even worth it, given that most schools have had my file under review for a while now? Still, since I imagine some schools start late (*cough* UCLA), would it be worth it to have it added to my AADSAS just for them?

If anyone has had a similar situation, or just had some advice for me, I'd really appreciate your input!

I have a somewhat similar situation. My committee letter was not done correctly, as she only uploaded one letter from my professor instead of the committee cover letter and the other professor LOR. I didn't find this out until I called UNLV the beginning of August and they told me my application was incomplete because i was missing 2 science professor letters. Strange because about 3 other schools said my application was complete. Anyway, once I realized this I contacted AADSAS to see if they would reopen the link for the correct committee letter to be uploaded. I went around and around with them. First it was no, and that there was nothing they could do about it. I was told to have the letter sent directly to the schools, my professor was grumbling about it and said that was too much of a hassle. So I called AADSAS back I wouldn't tolerate spending $1000 for my application to remain incomplete due to a mistake that I had no control over. Finally, after getting pissed off I was able to speak to Melissa (supervisor) and explain why I wanted it reopened. 😡😡😡😡😡 That took another 2 weeks of her deciding whether or not they would do it. Finally, it was reopened and the letter was uploaded correctly. That was last Friday and as of yesterday my updated application was not scheduled for mail out and they didn't no when it would be. And once again I was told to have my schools log into their aadsas accounts and download them again. What the hell are we paying aadsas for?? In the meantime I have been rejected by 2 schools which orginally considered my application complete (which I'm thinking the rejections were do to my crappy committee letter or lack thereof).

So my advice, if your professors/committee is willing to individually send them out, do it. and in the meantime you can contact aadsas and ask them to reopen the link or if you can mail the letter to them to add to your packet. If you just solely wait for AADSAS, you may be waiting a long, long time. This way the schools have the letter and if for some reason some of your schools want it through AADSAS you have that too. Most schools I contacted were okay with just emailing the letter to them except VCU. They wanted offical letterhead and in an offical envelope from my university.

Sorry for the rant, but just be prepared if you decide to go through AADSAS it may get frustrating.