Sending personalized LORs to schools

[MrBeans]

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I'm in a bit of a dilema.

I did research with a PI and build a great relatioship. I was fortunate to get an extremely strong LOR from him. He is very emphatic that I send my school of primary interest a personalized letter for the school. I told him about the AADSAS application and he suggests that I hand deliver the letter to my primary school so no other schools recieve it.

My problem is that his letter is extremely strong, and I'd like all schools to get a copy of it.

He agreed with the idea of making an impersonal letter, but then highly suggested delivering the personal one outside of AADSAS.

I don't want to double up letters to schools, especially my primary school of interest.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

I'm sorry for grammar errors as I'm sending this from my mobile device.

 

[doc toothache]

I did research with a PI and build a great relatioship. I was fortunate to get an extremely strong LOR from him. He is very emphatic that I send my school of primary interest a personalized letter for the school. I told him about the AADSAS application and he suggests that I hand deliver the letter to my primary school so no other schools recieve it. My problem is that his letter is extremely strong, and I'd like all schools to get a copy of it. He agreed with the idea of making an impersonal letter, but then highly suggested delivering the personal one outside of AADSAS.
Any suggestions on what I should do?

Shouldn't you be taking your cue from the person who is making the suggestion and writing your LOR?

 

[MrBeans]

You're absolutely right.

He understands how the application service can be so impersonalized, and he was willing to remove school names in order for the 1 LOR to be considered as one of the 4 LORs for AADSAS sent to all schools.

It's just kind of an akward situation I guess. I want to make sure my primary school reads the letter, as the problem is it won't be included in my AADSAS app.

However, I do not want my other schools that I am sending my AADSAS to, to read it since it's personalized to one specific school.

Would it hurt me if other schools read a letter specific to another school? Will the adcoms read the letter, even if its hand delivered and not part of my top 4 LORs on the aadsas app?

I just want to make sure his letter gets read, as I highly value it.

 

[Predoctalk]

You're absolutely right.

He understands how the application service can be so impersonalized, and he was willing to remove school names in order for the 1 LOR to be considered as one of the 4 LORs for AADSAS sent to all schools.

It's just kind of an akward situation I guess. I want to make sure my primary school reads the letter, as the problem is it won't be included in my AADSAS app.

However, I do not want my other schools that I am sending my AADSAS to, to read it since it's personalized to one specific school.

Would it hurt me if other schools read a letter specific to another school? Will the adcoms read the letter, even if its hand delivered and not part of my top 4 LORs on the aadsas app?

I just want to make sure his letter gets read, as I highly value it.

Use the impersonal one on aadsas and mail/hand deliver the personalized letter to the specific school it was originally written for (along with another lor since you would have doubled up with the impersonal & personal version). Or, use 4 others on AADSAS and just mail/hand deliver the personalized letter to the school it was intedned for. DO NOT submit a personalized school specific letter on AADSAS and have it sent to programs it was not originally written for!

 

[MrBeans]

Use the impersonal one on aadsas and mail/hand deliver the personalized letter to the specific school it was originally written for (along with another lor since you would have doubled up with the impersonal & personal version). Or, use 4 others on AADSAS and just mail/hand deliver the personalized letter to the school it was intedned for. DO NOT submit a personalized school specific letter on AADSAS and have it sent to programs it was not originally written for!

Thanks for the advice 🙂

So, do you think if I send 4 impersonal letters, and the 1 personal/specific letter to my primary school of interest, the adcoms would take the time to read the 5th letter?

 

[Predoctalk]

Thanks for the advice 🙂

So, do you think if I send 4 impersonal letters, and the 1 personal/specific letter to my primary school of interest, the adcoms would take the time to read the 5th letter?

It depends upon the school. I called to ask all of the schools that i applied to. Some would only consider the 4 through AADSAS while others considered more. I would just call and inquire to be safe. But, if they will only consider 4, explain the situation and have them disregard one of the letters from AADSAS and consider the personal letter. If you take the time to hand deliver the letter to the dean of Admissions, i am betting he/she wont just discard it.

 

[MrBeans]

It depends upon the school. I called to ask all of the schools that i applied to. Some would only consider the 4 through AADSAS while others considered more. I would just call and inquire to be safe. But, if they will only consider 4, explain the situation and have them disregard one of the letters from AADSAS and consider the personal letter. If you take the time to hand deliver the letter to the dean of Admissions, i am betting he/she wont just discard it.

You're such a great help!

Thanks so much 🙂