Schools that are picky about letters

[neopentanol]

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Northwestern wants them with the AAMC ID name of the student on the top right of each page of each letter.

Rosalind Franklin wants them with the phone number of each letter writer included in the letter.

Baylor won't accept any dated from over a year ago.

Whats with this? As if letters aren't already a pain to collect-is all this really necessary?

 

[custard]

Yeah this is really crazy. Thanks for posting this though. I'll need to let my recommenders know this before their send their letters in.

Does anyone else know if there are any other weird requirements?

 

[ssquared]

Pittsburgh wants their cover sheet with every letter.

Ain't gonna happen. I can barely get these people to write the damn letter, let alone sign and mail another piece of paper!

And for those without the pre-med committee, Jefferson wants letters from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Humanities. What a royal pain. I took physics years ago, my class had over 200 people in it, and my prof barely spoke English. How am I supposed to get a letter?!

 

[polycon7]

Yes, if you have a pre-med committee, it makes things a whole lot easier. Luckily for my school, the advisor for my committee summarized my letters and also attached each letter to make the composite package.

Like the first post indicated, make sure your letter writers have your AAMC id and some kind of contact info so that the school can contact each person if need be. The AAMC id is important, though. Your letters will just get lost without it. Trust me...I know! It was frustrating to keep resending packets until one school finally said to make sure I have my ID on there.

 

[neopentanol]

Yes, if you have a pre-med committee, it makes things a whole lot easier. Luckily for my school, the advisor for my committee summarized my letters and also attached each letter to make the composite package.

Like the first post indicated, make sure your letter writers have your AAMC id and some kind of contact info so that the school can contact each person if need be. The AAMC id is important, though. Your letters will just get lost without it. Trust me...I know! It was frustrating to keep resending packets until one school finally said to make sure I have my ID on there.

I understand requiring the AAMC ID on the letter packet, but on each individual page in the top right corner?

 

[jae9970]

I understand requiring the AAMC ID on the letter packet, but on each individual page in the top right corner?

thats painful, but im sure even if you "accidentally" skipped this, they wont be like "oh this applicant forgot to do this tiny little thing.. NEXT."

 

[voirlesetoiles]

NYMC... If you have a premed committee that doesn't rank your competitiveness (highly competitive, competitive, etc) - you must add the required 2 science and 1 humanities letters. No limit for # of LORs.

 

[jochi1543]

For that RFU LOR requirement about phone #s, how do you deal with it if you are sending LORs through Interfolio? Do you just e-mail the people's phone #s to the adcom or what?

 

[Jaded03]

Pittsburgh wants their cover sheet with every letter.

That's true. However, I think it's only important to 1. secure that you haven't tampered with the letter. 2. To tell them if its academic or not. I really didn't do that though. I have a service and I told them to list the letters and say if they're academic or personal. They can deal with it. It's been more than the 10 business days (2.5 weeks after UPS confirmation of recieved, I even know who signed for it 😛) and they still haven't updated my status. I'm a lil peeved.

And for those without the pre-med committee, Jefferson wants letters from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Humanities. What a royal pain. I took physics years ago, my class had over 200 people in it, and my prof barely spoke English. How am I supposed to get a letter?!

Actually, if you called them. They said they were guidelines. 😛 I'd say getting 3 science ones from different disciplines and one humantities.

NYMC... If you have a premed committee that doesn't rank your competitiveness (highly competitive, competitive, etc) - you must add the required 2 science and 1 humanities letters. No limit for # of LORs.

This isn't abnormal. Most people know to get 1 humanities and two from a science class. that's actually what most schools ask to see. It's difficult, but I knew to do that since I was a second year.

 

[custard]

Could a Social Science letter eg psych subsitute for Humunities?

 

[Jaded03]

Could a Social Science letter eg psych subsitute for Humunities?

I'm sure it couldn't hurt. If you can't get a humanities one, go for it. It's better than people who don't have anything beyond science. For UCLA, I know gunners have been getting their English class since UCLA requires us to take it, which are only written by TAs. 😛 If that doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. 😛