Same number of copies of LORs as the number of med schools I'm applying to?

[mustangsally65]

Hi. I applied last year to only a few places, and received only one interview. This particular school had you send your letters of recommendation after you'd received and sumbitted your secondary. So, I gave my letter writers the address and they simply sent one copy to the school.

My question is this: I'm applying to more schools this year (no acceptances last time around), and was wondering if I needed to request as many copies from letter writers as the number of schools I'm applying to, and should my LOR writers send the sealed letters to me directly, or should I forward all my addresses to them as any secondaries come in?

I'm thinking it would be more convenient for the letter writers simply to print off 10-20 copies at one time, sign and seal them, and then send them all to me. Is this the norm?

Thanks for your help!

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[OSUdoc08]

Hi. I applied last year to only a few places, and received only one interview. This particular school had you send your letters of recommendation after you'd received and sumbitted your secondary. So, I gave my letter writers the address and they simply sent one copy to the school.

My question is this: I'm applying to more schools this year (no acceptances last time around), and was wondering if I needed to request as many copies from letter writers as the number of schools I'm applying to, and should my LOR writers send the sealed letters to me directly, or should I forward all my addresses to them as any secondaries come in?

I'm thinking it would be more convenient for the letter writers simply to print off 10-20 copies at one time, sign and seal them, and then send them all to me. Is this the norm?

Thanks for your help!

The recommenders should mail the letters directly to the school, although sending them to you is no problem, as long as they are sealed.

 

[ntmed]

Is this the norm?

This is not the norm. It is customary for your LOR writers to send one copy to your committee, and to have the committee mail them out.

Your letter writers are being kind enough to write you a letter. Why put extra work on them by asking for 10 or 20 signed and sealed copies? See if your premed committee can help. You can use the one at your current school, or any former school your did substantial work at.

It is also customary to waive your right to see your LORs. You're suppose to get more honest letters if the writers know you can't see them, and they should carry more weight with the schools you apply to. Having the letters in your possession, even if they are sealed, makes it a little tougher to waive this right.

 

[mustangsally65]

Thanks for the replies. I've just signed up with Interfolio, and I think this will be the best option. My school doesn't have a pre-med committee, so I have to do this myself. But I really didn't want to ask my letter writers to have to print, sign, and mail that many copies.

Thanks!

 

[OSUdoc08]

This is not the norm. It is customary for your LOR writers to send one copy to your committee, and to have the committee mail them out.

Your letter writers are being kind enough to write you a letter. Why put extra work on them by asking for 10 or 20 signed and sealed copies? See if your premed committee can help. You can use the one at your current school, or any former school your did substantial work at.

It is also customary to waive your right to see your LORs. You're suppose to get more honest letters if the writers know you can't see them, and they should carry more weight with the schools you apply to. Having the letters in your possession, even if they are sealed, makes it a little tougher to waive this right.

My school's premed committee put together internal recommendations only. This means that only letters from faculty at the school were incorporated into the premed letter. The physician recommendation was sent seperately, with the secondary application.