References

[Salman20001]

Could someone please help on this whole references requirement of amcas. I will be leaving my state right after my exams and so I will be filling out the amcas application while away. Now how do the submission of references work? do I just pick 3 and the three sent it to 1 place i.e. amcas and then amcas sends it to the school designated by me? or do the three referees send it to each school one by one. I am really confused as to how this work...could someone please explain to me this?

thanx

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[TommyGunn04]

The way it works at my school is that we have a pre-med advisor who composes a "committee letter" based on our three letters of recommendation, and he then puts together a packet containing the 3 letters, plus his, and sends it out to whatever medical schools we designate. Unless AMCAS is really different this year, I'm pretty sure they won't be handling letters of rec for you. They only do this with transcripts, so you don't have to have the transcript sent to every school you apply to.

In your case, if you don't have a pre-med advisor who would orchestrate the letter of rec thing, I guess you'll have to give each of your letter writers a list of schools and addresses to send the letters to. If you already know where you're going to be applying, or at least know SOME of the schools, it might be easier to just give them self-addressed, stamped envelopes NOW, and if/when you add other schools you can just call/e-mail them from home and tell them to send the letters to some other places whose name/address you provide.

It's a pain in the a$#, I know. Perhaps one day AMCAS will do the letter stuff for us too, and we could just have our letter writers submit our letters electronically. That would be pretty cool! Anyway, I hope this was helpful.

 

[TommyGunn04]

oh, and the letters are typically said to be best coming from 2 science faculty and 1 non-science person. Each school has different requirements, so if you do it this way you're less likely to have to get an extra letter.

 

[Salman20001]

thanks a whole lot for the response...is there a particular prescribed format for the references or can my referees (beginning now) just write a reference letter even before the whole amcas processing starts? something tells me it depends on each school right?...the other thing is do we give the references with the primary application or do we snd it with the secondaries (considering we get them)?

 

[Salman20001]

bump

 

[trouta]

There is no set format for the letters. Most schools will accept any standard letter of rec. Your letters should be sent in with the secondaries (the schools will ask for as many as they need). Often, schools have little forms that they want you or your letter writers to fill out in addition to the letters.

2 science faculty and one non-science is a good balance, but the more letters you have the better b/c the school can get a clearer picture of who you are.

 

[deva]

•••quote:••••...is there a particular prescribed format for the references or can my referees (beginning now) just write a reference letter even before the whole amcas processing starts? something tells me it depends on each school right?...the other thing is do we give the references with the primary application or do we snd it with the secondaries (considering we get them)?•••••Usually AMCAS is the primary; letters of rec are usually due at same time as secondary. As far as I know, there is no particular format for letters - I just asked for letters, didn't give any information on what I needed from them. It is important to go to the pre-med advisory panel at your school (if it has one) because it will organize your letters and create a cover letter (like TommyGunn04 said). And no, you don't need to format your letters based on the school - your letter package will look the same to all, as the committee puts it together.