Sooooooo I'm a dumb dumb

[jlh19]

Well the title kinda calls it. I didn't check before I submitted my primary application to see how many letters each school wants and I just selected to send all 6 of my letters to every school. Now that I'm going through all the secondaries, many of them say they only want 3. My question to you SDN folks is if I go on to AMCAS and deselect a 3 of the letters that they don't want will that look bad? I know that after you submit your primary applications and then deselect a letter, it shows the school that that particular letter is no longer being sent. Will that make a difference or should I just keep all 6 going to each school? Thanks for your time and responses... and yes I now know I should've look at the specific letter requirements first so you don't have to remind me unless you really really really want to

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[jlh19]

Nevermind, I now see I can't change letter assignments. I thought you could, I was wrong haha

 

[Dr. Death]

My school sent all 6 of my letters to all schools. They will just disregard the ones they don't want. Or read them if they decide to interview

 

[Goro]

I can't sugar coat this, you'll be treated as someone who can't follow simple instructions. Write off the schools with the strict maximum, if you can't get AMCAS to fix it. Fingers crossed for you.

Well the title kinda calls it. I didn't check before I submitted my primary application to see how many letters each school wants and I just selected to send all 6 of my letters to every school. Now that I'm going through all the secondaries, many of them say they only want 3. My question to you SDN folks is if I go on to AMCAS and deselect a 3 of the letters that they don't want will that look bad? I know that after you submit your primary applications and then deselect a letter, it shows the school that that particular letter is no longer being sent. Will that make a difference or should I just keep all 6 going to each school? Thanks for your time and responses... and yes I now know I should've look at the specific letter requirements first so you don't have to remind me unless you really really really want to

 

[breezy16]

Goro, out of curiosity, if you had an applicant send you 4 instead of 3 (say they were a non-traditional, even), you would just throw away their file? Not just take 3 out of the 4, if need be?

I can't sugar coat this, you'll be treated as someone who can't follow simple instructions. Write off the schools with the strict maximum, if you can't get AMCAS to fix it. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Goro]

My school has no limits, so I can't answer your question. I think my record is about 8-10 LORs!

Goro, out of curiosity, if you had an applicant send you 4 instead of 3 (say they were a non-traditional, even), you would just throw away their file? Not just take 3 out of the 4, if need be?

 

[Grace184]

My school has no limits, so I can't answer your question. I think my record is about 8-10 LORs!

That's just uncalled for and over the top lol

 

[Oh_Gee]

My school has no limits, so I can't answer your question. I think my record is about 8-10 LORs!

were they all 10/10 quality?

 

[Goro]

After awhile they all look alike.

were they all 10/10 quality?

 

[jlh19]

I can't sugar coat this, you'll be treated as someone who can't follow simple instructions. Write off the schools with the strict maximum, if you can't get AMCAS to fix it. Fingers crossed for you.

Is it really that big of a deal? I mean I do get the following simple instructions part, but with everything else you're focusing on it can be easy to miss this. On the MSAR they don't have the instructions for the letters of recommendation requirements and I primarily used that as my research for schools I wanted to apply to. That's just my thoughts, feel free to burn me all you want now for not doing more in depth research

 

[Oh_Gee]

Is it really that big of a deal? I mean I do get the following simple instructions part, but with everything else you're focusing on it can be easy to miss this. On the MSAR they don't have the instructions for the letters of recommendation requirements and I primarily used that as my research for schools I wanted to apply to. That's just my thoughts, feel free to burn me all you want now for not doing more in depth research

When filling out what schools you want to select on the AMCAS, there's a button next to each school that says "LOE"
if you click, it "should" take you to the school's website where it says what letters they want
but most of the time it won't and you'll have to click around the website to find it

i really wish all schools would standardize their websites to make everything easy to find.
but then AAMC can't make money off of MSAR so...

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

I can't sugar coat this, you'll be treated as someone who can't follow simple instructions. Write off the schools with the strict maximum, if you can't get AMCAS to fix it. Fingers crossed for you.

But a letter packet/committee letter still counts as one, right? Even if it contains a number of letters different from what schools want? There is obviously no way to customize letter packets for each school.

 

[Gandyy]

Out of the 20 something MD schools I applied to, only 1 of them explicitly says they want only 3 recommendation letters.

Rosy Franklin if anyone is wondering which one.

 

[Goro]

Correct!

But a letter packet/committee letter still counts as one, right? Even if it contains a number of letters different from what schools want? There is obviously no way to customize letter packets for each school.

 

[doctorgtx]

Well the title kinda calls it. I didn't check before I submitted my primary application to see how many letters each school wants and I just selected to send all 6 of my letters to every school. Now that I'm going through all the secondaries, many of them say they only want 3. My question to you SDN folks is if I go on to AMCAS and deselect a 3 of the letters that they don't want will that look bad? I know that after you submit your primary applications and then deselect a letter, it shows the school that that particular letter is no longer being sent. Will that make a difference or should I just keep all 6 going to each school? Thanks for your time and responses... and yes I now know I should've look at the specific letter requirements first so you don't have to remind me unless you really really really want to

Thats ok..don't worry..they will randomly use three letters...it will not affect their decision much...I made the same mistake and still got interviews and accpetances

 

[Grace184]

This is a time you can't rely on the MSAR- it's great for objective data, school info etc, but visiting the admissions websites and keeping a notebook or a spreadsheet of the letters the need (min-max) what kind, is important. My advice is directed at people going through the process to prevent this from happening.

Hopefully as they say, they say, they'll take 3 random letters and use them. Best of luck this admissions cycle!

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Don't stress out. I don't think a school will toss an application over something this simple. I'd they did, they are a ridiculous school. If it were something more important, I'd say the not following rules would haunt you.

 

[timsk]

Out of the 20 something MD schools I applied to, only 1 of them explicitly says they want only 3 recommendation letters.

Rosy Franklin if anyone is wondering which one.

Interesting, we must have applied to different schools, because i would say that at least half the 20 i applied to request less than 6. It sticks out in my mind because i have six great letters and often had to decide which of those the school would most want. Tulane comes to mind.

 

[Gandyy]

Interesting, we must have applied to different schools, because i would say that at least half the 20 i applied to request less than 6. It sticks out in my mind because i have six great letters and often had to decide which of those the school would most want. Tulane comes to mind.

Hmm ok I only have 4 letters, and might add another one later for a few schools.

I did see that there were several schools that accepted no MORE than 6.

So if you have 6 you should be fine.