Rec Letter question

[mohad]

So i was looking through the school requirements of different schools for rec letter requirements, and it said that if I did research, I would need to get a rec letter from one of the supervisors in the program. I think BCM's letter site said something to that effect. I have my 2 science and 1 non science rec letters done, but I did do research for a semester on a volunteer basis. There was nothing official about it, and it was mainly just part of a freshman research class to help expose the newer students to research. I came in at my own hours, did whatever I had to, and then left, basically. I never really interacted with the guy running the program much aside from asking him if it was ok if I could join the other people in working in the lab. I don't think I can get a letter from him though because he moved and is working for a different company now. I don't really know how to go about this situation. Hell, is it even entirely necessary to get a letter from him, or are they a bit flexible when it comes to rec letters? Any advice?
tl;dr - did legitimate research for a semester as a part of a lab course, guy that ran it moved, what do?

Nevermind, after reading up on it it looks like they're strict on this.

And one more thing, just to clarify. How does the whole letter ID and AMCAS and TMDSAS ID thing work? I am using interfolio, and I know that you can enter in the letter and TMDSAS/AMCAS ID after the letters are written and uploaded, but how does the letter ID work? I know you get your TMDSAS and AMCAS IDs after signing up to apply. how does the letter ID factor in? And someone said that the letter ID and tmdsas and amcas ids need to be in the letter themselves, while another person told me you will be prompted for them when submitting letters on interfolio. Could someone clarify this process please?


sorry for the basic questions, but I really wanted to get this sorted out before may rolls around. I'd really appreciate some input though. Thanks for the help.

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[NickNaylor]

For AMCAS, once you create a letter entry you'll be assigned a letter ID number. Use that for Interfolio. I don't remember exactly how TMDSAS works, but I think it's an identical process.

 

[mohad]

For AMCAS, once you create a letter entry you'll be assigned a letter ID number. Use that for Interfolio. I don't remember exactly how TMDSAS works, but I think it's an identical process.

Ok, thanks. As for including the actual IDs in the actual letter, is there any truth to that? I've heard that a few times, and my adviser didn't help out much when trying to clarify it. I feel like it makes no sense to include the actual ID numbers within the letter if the application hasn't even opened.

 

[NickNaylor]

I didn't use Interfolio so I'm really not sure. I would think that Interfolio could accept the letter and you could later assign an AMCAS ID to it. Is that not possible?

 

[mohad]

Thats what I understood from the situation. When you are about to send the letters, you will get prompted or you can edit the letter ids later, but for some reason, people have been telling me the letter writer himself has to write the ids and whatnot on the actual letter when they're writing it. It makes no sense to me because like I said, the ids aren't even out yet, and it defeats the purpose of getting letters early if you have to wait to get an id before they can write it in the letter.

 

[NickNaylor]

That sounds silly. Unless Interfolio says otherwise, I doubt you have to include the ID number on the actual letter.