• The 2026-2027 DO School Specific Threads are now available in the School Specific Discussions forum. The 2025-2026 discussions are now available in the prior year discussions forum.
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

bme94

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Hi,

I'm getting frustrated here. I sent in my last batch of secondaries a couple of weeks ago, and a lot of the schools haven't even downloaded my letters. Do I need to email each school individually and ask if they can do so? How would you go about this situation?
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I thought schools only read letters of recommendation if they've considered interviewing an applicant

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using SDN mobile
 
I thought schools only read letters of recommendation if they've considered interviewing an applicant

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using SDN mobile

Really? Where did you hear that? I thought they downloaded the letters for all applicants, so the applicants become complete at that school. Then they make a decision based on that and the rest of the application. I could be wrong, though.
 
From a book I read about the application process, "If a candidate’s GPA and MCAT scores are above the threshold a school sets as a cutoff, the application moves to the next stage of the process. At that point, other elements of the application, such as extracurricular activities, the personal statement (see Chapter 8 ), and letters of recommendation (see Chapter 9 ) are scrutinized to determine whether the applicant receives an interview offer. (Note that some schools do a holistic review of all applications from the outset, which includes reading the personal statement and assessing other elements of the application package such as extracurricular activities; however, GPA and MCAT are still important factors even if the entire application is assessed initially.)"

Sent from my SM-T550 using SDN mobile
 
This is all hearsay. All schools do things slightly differently. If you have turned in all of your requirements, you wait for the schools to mark you complete. Once you are complete, you wait for a decision. I applied to some schools in July and was marked complete and never heard anything again.
 
So, the general consensus is that just because it's been a couple of weeks, and they haven't downloaded your letters, doesn't necessarily mean that the school isn't interested in you? I've had a few schools mark me complete within 2-3 days, others I'm still waiting on.
 
I know a few classmates that didn't even send their primaries until December and interviewed march-April and still was accepted. The DO cycle is much longer than the MD one so I wouldn't worry too much