"To Whom It May Concern" Letters of Recommendation???

[RockMyWorldPlz]

So, one of my non-science professors has agreed to write me two letters of recommendation based on my performance in his course last semester; one will be for an undergraduate transfer to a better institution and another will be for my medical school applications. I was under the impression that most professors would write a "To Whom It May Concern" letter stating something along the lines of "This individual will be a great asset to your medical school/undergraduate institution/etc. because..." This way, I could use one letter to apply to as many undergraduate institutions as I wanted; same thing with the medical school letter. Is this standard practice or what?

I ask because my professor spoke with me today about his letters and said that generic, impersonal "To Whom It May Concern" letters don't generally hold much weight and won't influence adcoms very much. What does everything think about that?

If my professor writes letters of recommendation to specific entities, then I'll be limited as to how beneficial they will be. I can't ask him to write 5 letters for all the potential undergraduate institutions and 20 or so for all the medical school in which I'm interested. What do you folks think? Should I ask him to write a generic "To Whom It May Concern" letter so that I can use it for any institution or should I get a letter addressing a specific school? If I did the latter, the letter would only be good for one place. I'm confused and baffled by the conversation and his advice. Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions?

I thought that "To Whom It May Concern" LORs were standard practice. Am I wrong?

Furthermore, he told me that if he was going to send it to Interfolio (the LOR management service), then he was going to actually address the letter to Interfolio. Does this make any sense? Is he going to write "To Interfolio LOR Management Service" or what? I'm totally confused. Please help! I don't want to be rude.

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[GjE]

sorry, i dont know the answer to that question

but i did have a question related to this issue
are getting recommendation letters from highschool teachers necessary?

 

[RockMyWorldPlz]

sorry, i dont know the answer to that question

but i did have a question related to this issue
are getting recommendation letters from highschool teachers necessary?

They're not required for med school and they're usually not required for undergrad either. However, getting them for undergrad applications if you will be a traditional freshman is a good idea.

 

[BlueElmo]

Dude, just have him address it as "Dear Admissions Committee." That's good enough. I don't think this is a big deal, sounds like he's making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[RockMyWorldPlz]

Dude, just have him address it as "Dear Admissions Committee." That's good enough. I don't think this is a big deal, sounds like he's making a mountain out of a molehill.

I think that's a good idea. I sent out my request for him to use that address. Do you agree that "To Whom It May Concern" letters carry less weight than a letter addressed to a specific institution like "Dear Cornell School of Medicine?"

 

[cpants]

To Whom it May Concern or Dear Admissions Committee is preferred, especially if using a service like interfolio. All the schools will be seeing the same letters, so there really isn't an opportunity to send individually addressed letters. The exception would be if your prof has a specific connection to the university, and is writing the letter from that perspective. For example, if he went to Weill, it would make sense for him to right a personal letter explaining why you would be a great fit for that school and send it separately to the school. That kind of letter is definitely preferable to a more general one.

 

[0Complications]

I think that's a good idea. I sent out my request for him to use that address. Do you agree that "To Whom It May Concern" letters carry less weight than a letter addressed to a specific institution like "Dear Cornell School of Medicine?"

Not for med schools. Maybe for your undergrad transfer to which I know nothing about.

For med schools I would say a good portion of applicants use Interfolio or a similar site to send out 1 letter from each writer to ALL your schools. This would make you're letter very awkward when it arrives at Harvard saying, "Dear Cornell School of Medicine."

Just let him know it will go to all of your med schools.

 

[RockMyWorldPlz]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I was quite confident that writing a general letter to be used for all applications was a standard practice, which explains my confusion when the professor claimed that these carry little weight. I'll be sure to inform the letter writer of my desire to use the recommendation for all schools. Thanks again.