Letters of Recommendation? Help Please

[Guest QuestionMan23213]

Hey everyone,

I have a couple of questions regarding letters of recommendation.

 

1) Are letters of reference to be mailed directly to each school you apply to, or can we just have 1 copy of each letter sent to AMCAS and they forward the letters to all the schools? If they have to be sent directly to schools, how do you go about asking your referees to print X # of letters (if you're applying to a large # of schools)?

 

2) When do the letters have to be sent in? Can you arrange to have them sent in to AMCAS before submitting the online application (primary app)?

 

3) Is it possible for my prof to send me the letter of reference in a stamped, sealed envelope and I mail them to each school/AMCAS, or do the profs have to send them themselves?

 

Thanks for the help.

QM

[Guest moo]

I had the profs send to each individual school directly. Gave them envelopes with stamps and they sent it in themselves

Its a pain in the ass, I know but that's how I did it. US undergrad schools usually have a premed office where they collect the letters and send it out for you. There are services like that that will do it for a fee.

[Guest ncoffey]

The schools want them directly from the profs, however, you can use a service such as Interfolio to send them. I've just gotten my referees to send them (either via snail mail or electronic document uploading) to Interfolio. None of them have arrived yet but I think it's a widely used service by American students so it should be okay. You only send the reference letters after you receive the secondary application from the schools, because that's when they'll give you specific instructions on what kind of letters you need.

[Guest QuestionMan23213]

Ok I was curious to know as I havent even submitted my primary app yet since i wrote the august mcat and it will not be processed until the marks are out anyway. One of my prof's is going out of town now for a few months so I am not sure how i will be able to get her to send out the letters in a few weeks when I get my secondaries unless I get her to sign and seal 4-5 extras in envelopes... Im only applying to 4 schools for now since I have no idea how the mcat went so I dont think Ill use the interfolio service.

[Guest thatuvicguy]

Hey Questionman,

 

You probably know already but there is relative consensus on the advantage of applying early in the US application process. Of course if you have far-out stats that may be less the case.

 

Good luck!

thatuvicguy