Shed some light on L.O.R's

[COMBAT MEDIC172]

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I was wondering if someone could explain how the letter of recs work. I have been hearing that they are to be sealed and sent in with out the applicant viewing them. How would this work if I plan on gathering letters along the way of my undergrad , years before applying????

 

[linguini]

Use Interfolio (www.interfolio.com). For a small, annual subscription fee you can store LORs there for as long as you want (e.g. throughout your undergrad). When it comes time to apply, schools will either accept your LORs directly from interfolio or via AMCAS (you can send your interfolio letters to AMCAS which are then sent to the schools). VirtualEvals is another online service but I'm not familiar with it.

 

[COMBAT MEDIC172]

So does the applicant store them on interfolio? Or does the person doing the recommendation? Can we review them? Im asking a Dr. I work with soon.

 

[linguini]

So does the applicant store them on interfolio? Or does the person doing the recommendation? Can we review them? Im asking a Dr. I work with soon.

The letter writer needs to submit it electronically or via surface mail to Interfolio. You will need to give your letter writer a cover letter (available when you sign up with Interfolio) that gives them all of the directions to submit it. You can choose to review them if you want; however, the general consensus is that you should waive your rights to read your LORs when applying to medical school.

 

[COMBAT MEDIC172]

Right on thanks linguini

 

[pathophys17]

When it comes time to apply, schools will either accept your LORs directly from interfolio or via AMCAS (you can send your interfolio letters to AMCAS which are then sent to the schools).

You can? So you make an interfolio account and once all letters are uploaded, you then send them to the AMCAS letter service?

 

[linguini]

You can? So you make an interfolio account and once all letters are uploaded, you then send them to the AMCAS letter service?

That's how it was this year (for class of 2013). I heard AMCAS was trying to get more/all schools on board with its letter service, in which case you wouldn't need interfolio anymore (unless you wanted to store your letters before you made an AMCAS account, I guess). I'm not sure if this is happening next application cycle. If so, I hope they worked out some kinks from our year before implementing it.

 

[dw2158]

wait... if i have a pre-health committee at my school, does it work differently? i was under the impression that they collected all my letters (which they've done already) and send them out for me. i guess i should be asking them, though 😳

 

[4goneconclusion]

Random question:

I applied for this round of admissions and have 5 letters on Interfolio. Would I be able to resubmit those to universities if I do re-apply? Or do I have to get a fresh batch to interfolio?

 

[BlueElmo]

wait... if i have a pre-health committee at my school, does it work differently? i was under the impression that they collected all my letters (which they've done already) and send them out for me. i guess i should be asking them, though 😳

Yeah, my college has a Letter Service where they collect all my letters and send them to medical schools. Can I use this in lieu of Interfolio?

 

[linguini]

Random question:

I applied for this round of admissions and have 5 letters on Interfolio. Would I be able to resubmit those to universities if I do re-apply? Or do I have to get a fresh batch to interfolio?

You can definitely re-send them again if they are still in your Interfolio account assuming that you have kept it active.

However, I don't know anything about your credentials but you may want to consider if one or more of those LORs is what is keeping you out this cycle, in which case you may want to send a different set of letters if you re-apply.

 

[olemissbabydoc]

Use Interfolio (www.interfolio.com). For a small, annual subscription fee you can store LORs there for as long as you want (e.g. throughout your undergrad). When it comes time to apply, schools will either accept your LORs directly from interfolio or via AMCAS (you can send your interfolio letters to AMCAS which are then sent to the schools). VirtualEvals is another online service but I'm not familiar with it.

Interfolio saved my life.

My first app cycle = no interfolio, LORs were hell
Second app cycle = had all letters stored by March, as soon as I got secondaries I was able to send them off, my files were complete by the following week for each secondary.

 

[olemissbabydoc]

Yeah, my college has a Letter Service where they collect all my letters and send them to medical schools. Can I use this in lieu of Interfolio?

If you trust your letter service, yes. Some schools have a reputation for being uber slow. If you are afraid this might be a problem, collect them on your own. 👍

 

[Excelsius]

How about a good guide for writing a strong letter of recommendation? I'd imagine it would be a good idea to give some sort of information to your instructor as to what information he should have in the letter. After all, many instructors are not familiar with med schools and what they seek. I remember a template floating around on SDN, but I think that would not be useful since everyone using the template will have the same LOR. A list of suggestions would be much better.

 

[COMBAT MEDIC172]

I agree!