Sending letter packet to all my schools with 5 LORs in it... IS THIS TOO MANY LETTERS?

[makingthatmcatpur]

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So I noticed some schools specifically ask for 3 LORs but I'm sending my letters through a third party that sends all 5 of my LORs as one packet. Has anyone run into problems with schools that only request less than 5 letters? Will too many letters be an automatic rejection?

 

[Govols22]

My school requires a minimum of 5 letters for to compose the committee letter.

 

[KDoc2020]

On MSAR, it will let you know these maximum values but it should not be an issue. I sent 5 through AMCAS to every school I applied to and never ran into this issue


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Ismet]

It's fine. Unless there's a school out there that only wants a maximum of 3-4 letters, then by sending 5 you would not be following directions. No idea if there are schools with that requirement but it wouldn't hurt to do a quick check on the websites of the schools you'll be applying to. If they ask for "at least" 3 or don't specify a maximum, then you're fine.

 

[raiderette]

If schools have a limit they will state it in MSAR. One school only downloaded the first three letters so placement was key.

 

[makingthatmcatpur]

Can I now give the correct answer please.

A committee letter is a ONE letter no many how many LORs are contained in it.
A letter packet is ONE letter no many how many LORS are in it
LORs sent individually are counted as ONE LOR each

Example An applicant that has sent a letter packet containing 5 letters and another 2 additional individual letters has submitted 3 letters in total

An applicant submitting more that 6 total LORs contained with all the methods above may be considered excessive

https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/section-6-letters-evaluation/
Letter Types
AMCAS accepts three different types of letters. Each letter type is equivalent to one letter entry.

• Committee Letter: A letter authored by a pre-health committee or pre-health advisor and intended to represent your institution’s evaluation of you. A Committee Letter may or may not include additional letters written in support of your application. This is sometimes called a Composite Letter.
• Letter Packet: A packet or set of letters assembled and distributed by your institution, often by the institution’s career center. A Letter Packet may include a cover sheet from your pre-health committee or advisor. However, unlike to a Committee Letter, a Letter Packet does not include an evaluative letter from your pre-health committee or advisor.
• Individual Letter: A letter written by, and representing, a single letter author. If you have already included an Individual Letter within either a Committee Letter or a Letter Packet, do not add a separate entry for that letter.

So you're telling me if a school has a LOR maximum AND minimum requirement of 4 letters, and they have to be 4 letters from specific writers (e.g. 2 science professors, 1 other professor, and a physician), if I send them a letter packet that contains 6 individual letters, then I would technically not be over their limit, BUT I would actually be under their requirement because my packet is only counted as 1 letter?

 

[gyngyn]

So you're telling me if a school has a LOR maximum AND minimum requirement of 4 letters, and they have to be 4 letters from specific writers (e.g. 2 science professors, 1 other professor, and a physician), if I send them a letter packet that contains 6 individual letters, then I would technically not be over their limit, BUT I would actually be under their requirement because my packet is only counted as 1 letter?

If each of the letters is included in its entirety (dated, signed and on letterhead), then I'm confident that the school will have found that you met the requirements.

 

[makingthatmcatpur]

If each of the letters is included in its entirety (dated, signed and on letterhead), then I'm confident that the school will have found that you met the requirements.

Okay, that makes more sense to me. In your experience, how do schools typically respond to someone who sends 1-2 more letters than their max requirement if they are all contained in a packet sent by your university? Basically, I can't edit my letter packet for specific schools. The way it's put together by my university is the way it will be uploaded to AMCAS and sent to all of my schools... So I'm worried about the couple of schools I'm applying to that has a requirement less than my packet.

 

[gyngyn]

Okay, that makes more sense to me. In your experience, how do schools typically respond to someone who sends 1-2 more letters than their max requirement if they are all contained in a packet sent by your university? Basically, I can't edit my letter packet for specific schools. The way it's put together by my university is the way it will be uploaded to AMCAS and sent to all of my schools... So I'm worried about the couple of schools I'm applying to that has a requirement less than my packet.

If they are in a packet per your school's requirements, you will not be penalized.

 

[bananabear17]

If they are in a packet per your school's requirements, you will not be penalized.

Sorry to revive a very old thread, but what about if I accidentally sent 5 letters to a school that asks for EITHER a committee letter OR 3 individual letters? I've submitted my primary and can no longer remove the letters. Should I be writing to that school to amend this somehow? Or should I just leave it be? Will I be penalized?

 

[gyngyn]

Sorry to revive a very old thread, but what about if I accidentally sent 5 letters to a school that asks for EITHER a committee letter OR 3 individual letters? I've submitted my primary and can no longer remove the letters. Should I be writing to that school to amend this somehow? Or should I just leave it be? Will I be penalized?

Let it go. Anything you do only emphasizes the problem...

 

[MC_Spartan]

Let it go. Anything you do only emphasizes the problem...

Agree. Let it go. Sent “too many” letters to the school where I’ll be matriculating this fall.

For pre-meds reading this: double check each schools’ website (and in some cases, secondary app instructions) before submitting LORs. Discovered MSAR and school websites don’t always line up, a bit too late.

 

[msam50]

Let it go. Anything you do only emphasizes the problem...

Sorry to bring this up again, but I made the same mistake and the school has a requirement where 2 letters from science profs are required and they only ended up downloading 1, according to the portal. What should I do?

 

[gyngyn]

Sorry to bring this up again, but I made the same mistake and the school has a requirement where 2 letters from science profs are required and they only ended up downloading 1, according to the portal. What should I do?

As long as your school submitted a committee letter that met their own requirements, you are fine.

 

[msam50]

As long as your school submitted a committee letter that met their own requirements, you are fine.

It wasnt a commitee letter though, it was 5 individual letters submitted through my schools letter service

 

[gyngyn]

It wasnt a commitee letter though, it was 5 individual letters submitted through my schools letter service

It is curated in any way?
How do you know what is in it?

 

[VikingWarrior]

Seriously don't stress about it. This is a non-issue. My school required 5 LORs in order to write me a committee letter. In that regards I already don't comply with a lot of schools. I got 8 LORs to be safe and they decided to include all of them because "they all added something different." If I was to get penalized for that by the admissions committee that would be stupid. Now, do I expect the schools to read all 8+1 letters? No, they will probably read the committee letter and how many of the other ones they want.

 

[msam50]

Was it done as
1) a single letter packet from the school? therefore is was a single letter in AMCAS?
2) or was it somehow 5 separate entries in AMCAS letter system that you created and that your school loaded individally?

#2

 

[gyngyn]

#2

You might want to let them know that a packet would work better (for the future) for all the reasons stated in this thread. Individual students could avoid this by not designating a bunch of slots in advance. Alternatively, you could show them that different schools have restrictions on the number and type of letter. This puts the burden on them to send the right letters. Or, if they write a committee letter, they can add any others at the end (if they wish), thus avoiding the whole issue.

 

[gyngyn]

On the other hand, with 5 separate entries, it is up to the applicant to assign the correct letters to the schools and know the requirements of each school. This is now appearing as individual letters to the schools and not a packet which is wholly under the applicant's control

It does seem as if this were the case. It appears that he assigned a slot for the committee letter and 4 additional slots that did not conform to the requests of various schools. If he had only sent the committee letter this would be moot.