Unethical advice

[tavokeri9]

I'm not applying this cycle, but my friend who is has recently been giving me some "advice" on how to maximize my chances. She just submitted her application and sent letters in via Interfolio. She said it's really important to make sure you get strong LORs and one way to make sure that you do have this is to send the LORs received in interfolio to another email address (organization) which she can access and read before sending to AMCAS to make sure that the letters are positive. So far, I thought her advice was pretty good, but this completely caught me off guard! This sounds very unethical, especially since the letters are supposed to be confidential and is this even possible?! I don't know if she's joking or what, but if people can really do this, I feel like it defeats the whole purpose of the letter 🙁

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[NotASerialKiller]

Are you posting this so people can confirm that this is a terrible idea? It is.

 

[April-Twenty]

Unethical no doubt. What would you do if you didn't like the letter? Change it? Next is the email, do you think for MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMISSIONS would have an email from yahoo, Gmail, AOL etc.? Best advice is to make sure you get a good letter from your prof. by saying, "Can you write me a STRONG letter of rec" and also creating a good relationship w/ professor whom you are asking

 

[hoihaie]

if you're worried about quality of letter, sometimes your school's pre-med advisor can look over the letters for you and tell you the quality if you send the letters to them from interfolio

 

[Mad Jack]

Be careful when doing this. If Interfolio notices an anomaly, they will mark your letters as opened and notify the letter writers that the confidentiality of their letters has been breached.

 

[itsogre]

if you're worried about quality of letter, sometimes your school's pre-med advisor can look over the letters for you and tell you the quality if you send the letters to them from interfolio

this is what placement officers at some PhD programmes do for their graduates. Ask your pre-med committee or advisor if they provide the same service (they probably can).

 

[Promethean]

Yeah, it is not only unethical, but also a bad idea. As MJ mentions, Interfolio is watching. And they are not easy to fool. I know someone who tried to see his own letters by having Interfolio send them to someone else in his lab, who had an official .edu address for them to go to. Interfolio actually had a person look at the request and deem it to be an attempt to circumvent confidentiality. I don't know if they alerted any letter writers, etc, but they refused to honor the request to submit the letters to that third party.

I don't think it would have been an issue if he had been asking his PI to look over the letters and advise him about whether any were suitable... but the person he was having the letters sent to was not a mentor, but a peer. Interfolio saw right through that.

 

[md-2020]

I'm not applying this cycle, but my friend who is has recently been giving me some "advice" on how to maximize my chances. She just submitted her application and sent letters in via Interfolio. She said it's really important to make sure you get strong LORs and one way to make sure that you do have this is to send the LORs received in interfolio to another email address (organization) which she can access and read before sending to AMCAS to make sure that the letters are positive. So far, I thought her advice was pretty good, but this completely caught me off guard! This sounds very unethical, especially since the letters are supposed to be confidential and is this even possible?! I don't know if she's joking or what, but if people can really do this, I feel like it defeats the whole purpose of the letter 🙁

You should write your own LOR's....

I mean, no one knows you better, right??

 

[Syns]

August came early this year. Desperation level at over 9,000!

 

[starlite911]

You should write your own LOR's....

I mean, no one knows you better, right??

Some professors actually have you do that and then edit them on their own hehe

 

[md-2020]

Some professors actually have you do that and then edit them on their own hehe

Lmfao, I'd submit this (change gender in letter) in the hopes that they don't actually read it too thoroughly:
http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/c522e4a17a/completely-honest-recommendation-letter

As an added bonus, it's super diverse.

 

[starlite911]

Lmfao, I'd submit this (change gender in letter) in the hopes that they don't actually read it too thoroughly:
http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/c522e4a17a/completely-honest-recommendation-letter

As an added bonus, it's super diverse.

Surprisingly similar to the letter I wrote for myself

 

[vellez]

Applying to medical school sure brings out the worst in a lot of people.

 

[LizzyM]

Lmfao, I'd submit this (change gender in letter) in the hopes that they don't actually read it too thoroughly:
http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/c522e4a17a/completely-honest-recommendation-letter

As an added bonus, it's super diverse.

Think of the overcoming adversity essay she can write! And adcoms love athletes! And she must have a strong upward trend given that she started with a 1.01 GPA