Rosalind Franklin LOR

[pvpapaioann]

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Hey guys,

So as I was reading the admissions requirements for Rosalind Franklin, they seemed to insist that they would not like any more than three LOR. However, I've submitted my application and I sent them five. Unfortunately, doesn't look like I can manually change what letters I sent them from AMCAS. Should I contact AMCAS or RF about this to specify which one's they should read, and, if they don't change this, does this hurt my application by sending more than I should have?

Thanks

 

[Robracer89]

I sent like 7 because I didn't know either last cycle and still received an interview. I wouldn't worry too much about it

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

They'll most likely just read three and assess off of that. A lot of applicants send letter packets. Rosy Franklin will be used to it. No need to worry.

 

[gyngyn]

They'll most likely just read three and assess off of that. A lot of applicants send letter packets. Rosy Franklin will be used to it. No need to worry.

Sadly, we have to read them all if the application gets past screening.

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

Sadly, we have to read them all if the application gets past screening.

In that case, I send my send my condolences to reviewers across the country. I know several people who had ~6 letters in their packets. Whew.

 

[gyngyn]

In that case, I send my send my condolences to reviewers across the country. I know several people who had ~6 letters in their packets. Whew.

School packets with an excess of letters are fine. It's when individual letters exceed that maximum that we get sad.

 

[gyngyn]

Silly question, perhaps, but going to ask anyway: does it really hurt if you have more than 3 individual letters that are all really strong? If they read all of them, isn't this incentive to just send extra letters (even if adcom gets sad ... they've read some flame letters)? I myself wanted to send around 5 but stuck with 3 because admissions office said they'd choose which 3 they decide to read (and I didn't want to gamble my chances or upset adcom, who likely don't want to linger on apps for longer than necessary).
- this is purely a hypothetical, not encouraging others to follow suit but wondering how this may affect app.

There are schools that can afford to take this seriously. It shows that the applicant either doesn't read the instructions or feels that the rules don't apply to them.
There are other schools that are just trying to reduce low yield content in the application to make it easier to recruit the (unpaid) help need to run the process.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

The rule of thumb I found with LORs (if you don't have a committee letter or packet) is that between 3-5 is ideal simply because what else is there to say? You'll have your two science and one non-science faculty letter that show your abilities in the classroom to handle the workload, one from an employer/PI/volunteer coordinator that shows your work ethic, attention to detail, etc and one character letter potentially from an advisor. Outside of that, it's repetitive.

There may be cases where another letter is great for a specific program because of certain ties. I may also be the exception, but I knew what each of letter writers wrote - either from meeting with them before they wrote, or they sent me a copy after they submitted to interfolio. For instance, my only B during my post-bacc was in an OChem course. I failed the first exam and spent every office hour after that with the professor and pulled A's from there on out. He wrote about my early struggles and determination and showed everything that went into that B. When it came to submitting limited LORs, I made sure include that one.

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

There are schools that can afford to take this seriously. It shows that the applicant either doesn't read the instructions or feels that the rules don't apply to them.
There are other schools that are just trying to reduce low yield content in the application to make it easier to recruit the (unpaid) help need to run the process.

The rule of thumb I found with LORs (if you don't have a committee letter or packet) is that between 3-5 is ideal simply because what else is there to say? You'll have your two science and one non-science faculty letter that show your abilities in the classroom to handle the workload, one from an employer/PI/volunteer coordinator that shows your work ethic, attention to detail, etc and one character letter potentially from an advisor. Outside of that, it's repetitive.

There may be cases where another letter is great for a specific program because of certain ties. I may also be the exception, but I knew what each of letter writers wrote - either from meeting with them before they wrote, or they sent me a copy after they submitted to interfolio. For instance, my only B during my post-bacc was in an OChem course. I failed the first exam and spent every office hour after that with the professor and pulled A's from there on out. He wrote about my early struggles and determination and showed everything that went into that B. When it came to submitting limited LORs, I made sure include that one.

So more of an individual question here I suppose, but it could definitely apply to others. I sent my letter packet out with 5 letters (it seemed like the norm/all bases covered with requirements). If my schools limits are 3 like RFU or even 5, should I not send in an update letter from my gap year supervisor later into the cycle? I'll be working closely with them in an AmeriCorps position, so I think it could potentially add an extra "bump" to my app. Should I just stay within the prescribed limit of 5?

 

[CyrilFiggis]

So more of an individual question here I suppose, but it could definitely apply to others. I sent my letter packet out with 5 letters (it seemed like the norm/all bases covered with requirements). If my schools limits are 3 like RFU or even 5, should I not send in an update letter from my gap year supervisor later into the cycle? I'll be working closely with them in an AmeriCorps position, so I think it could potentially add an extra "bump" to my app. Should I just stay within the prescribed limit of 5?

To me, this is one of the biggest fallacies of update letters. You are allowed to list current and on-going ECs on your application. So I assume that your AmeriCorps experience would be on there listing your start date, future end date and total expected hours completed. So unless your work with them is something totally incredible and earth shattering, what will the update letter with this LOR from your supervisor do more than what your 3-5 other letters and EC blurb have done?

If a school accepts updates, it should be used to send them genuine updates - a new publication, new grades, awards, promotions - something that comes across less like "hey, remember that thing I was doing? I'm still doing it." and more "hey, remember that thing? well now I'm receiving acclaim/acknowledgement/etc for it!"

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

To me, this is one of the biggest fallacies of update letters. You are allowed to list current and on-going ECs on your application. So I assume that your AmeriCorps experience would be on there listing your start date, future end date and total expected hours completed. So unless your work with them is something totally incredible and earth shattering, what will the update letter with this LOR from your supervisor do more than what your 3-5 other letters and EC blurb have done?

If a school accepts updates, it should be used to send them genuine updates - a new publication, new grades, awards, promotions - something that comes across less like "hey, remember that thing I was doing? I'm still doing it." and more "hey, remember that thing? well now I'm receiving acclaim/acknowledgement/etc for it!"

I agree with that logic, but I didn't list in on my W&A since I hadn't started it yet and already had things I could put there. I was planning on putting it in secondary apps/update letters. Hindsight is 20/20 and maybe that wasn't my best course of action, but I have to roll with it now. So in a case such as mine, I would consider this a genuine update (especially for the schools who I couldn't mention AC in my secondary). Am I wrong in thinking this?

 

[gyngyn]

I agree with that logic, but I didn't list in on my W&A since I hadn't started it yet and already had things I could put there. I was planning on putting it in secondary apps/update letters. Hindsight is 20/20 and maybe that wasn't my best course of action, but I have to roll with it now. So in a case such as mine, I would consider this a genuine update (especially for the schools who I couldn't mention AC in my secondary). Am I wrong in thinking this?

Considering letters that arrive outside of AMCAS is not considered a "best practice."

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

Considering letters that arrive outside of AMCAS is not considered a "best practice."

Apologies for the confusion. I meant to transmit the letter(s) via AMCAS after I'd been in early September after I had been in my position for a bit.