sending extra LORs

[drmota]

So I don't really want to have to spend all the time to go figure out which letters I wrote down for which schools / how many letters each school requires, so do you think it would be inappropriate to just send all 5 of my letters to all the schoos? i mean i figure schools that say they won't accept extra letters will just throw out the extra ones. what do y'all think? did you tailor your individual letters to individual schools?
-mota

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[Hoberto]

I sent 5 letters to every school except those that specifically state to send only 3. As a nontrad, though, I need to include two PI letters along with the science and nonscience letters. So, some schools require all five letters.

For schools that ask for ONLY 3 I would send the 3 that meet the requirements. If you send 5, my guess would be that the first 3 will go into your file and the others would hit the trash. What if the first 3 the school gets are all science or boss letters and you are required to send a non-science letter? That non-science letter might be in the garbage and your file will be incomplete.

Besides, you want to show schools you know how to follow directions!

 

[drmota]

Besides, you want to show schools you know how to follow directions!

thats a good point.
-mota

 

[Law2Doc]

I sent 5 letters to every school except those that specifically state to send only 3. As a nontrad, though, I need to include two PI letters along with the science and nonscience letters. So, some schools require all five letters.

For schools that ask for ONLY 3 I would send the 3 that meet the requirements. If you send 5, my guess would be that the first 3 will go into your file and the others would hit the trash. What if the first 3 the school gets are all science or boss letters and you are required to send a non-science letter? That non-science letter might be in the garbage and your file will be incomplete.

Besides, you want to show schools you know how to follow directions!

My understanding is that nontrads are often expected to have more LORs due to having former employers, graduate education or the like, and so are not as limited by the LOR requirements. I certainly had many more than 3 LORs. Depends on your background. But if you are coming from undergrad and the target school asks for only 3 LORs, then go with around 3.

 

[NapeSpikes]

It can't take that long to track which letters you listed, right? An hour or two tops.