reference letters

[Guest cp00739]

hi..i'm thinking about applying to about ~20 american medical schools...but i'm in a tough situation in regards to reference letters....most american colleges have a pre-med committee which collects letters of reference and sends them out to the different schools you apply to..no such service exists here in canada, at least not here at the U of A....my questions is for those who have gone throught the whole applying to american school thing...how did you approach the fact that you have to ask your referee to send out 20 letters at once???

 

is there any way around that problem???

 

thanks alot!!!!

[Guest yo]

I was afraid to ask for like 20, so I asked to four. I would ask for 20 anyways since all they have to do is photocopy them. Also, if your referee is not willing to do that many copies he/she might not write such a favourable letter.

[Guest BrainDrain]

It sucks that we don't have pre-med advisors in Canada and that we have to learn all the "tricks" to the application process on our own. Anyways, I applied to 20 US schools and here's a tip:

Ask for your letters all at once. Since schools will be requesting the letters at various times, it would be a hassle to go see your referees everytime you need a letter printed off. I found it convenient to have all the letters in my possession so that when schools asked for them, I can just drop them in the mailbox.

 

P.S. If you apply to that many, it will be a good idea to make a table of all your schools in order to track your progess (i.e. what you've sent/need to send to individual schools.)

 

BrainDrain

[Guest WesternGirl]

Most of the US schools said they would accept reference letters even before they send you a secondary application. I asked each school what kinds of references they want (e.g., science profs, any profs, others, etc) and how many letters they wanted. Then I had all my letters sent out at the same time. The schools keep them on file until the end of the application process. That seemed to work for me.

[Guest brandonite]

I had adressed stamped envelopes that I delivered to all of of my references. But that was a real pain... It ended up delaying everything, because everytime I got a secondary application, I would have to trek around campus and ask the same 5 people to send out another letter.

 

This year, if I reapply MSTP, I am going to use interfolio. They take care of all that stuff for you. Sure, you have to pay for it, but considering the amount of money you will be spending already, it is a drop in the bucket compared to how much time and hassle it will save you.

 

Check it out! www.interfolio.com/