* * 2010 - 2011 * * Letter of Recommendation Thread

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xbab33doll4evax said:
I'm a little confused and hope that someone can help.

Do most schools read LORs after secondaries are submitted? or should I have submitted all LORs with my primaries already?
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secondaries
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Hi
I am applying both to MD and DO schools.
I have recommendation letter from MD, but I never had a chance to shadow or work with DO.
Do any DO schools REQUIRE a recommendation letter from DO?
I have looked at Touro and they accept letter from both MD and DO...
Thanks ppl!
 
Some do. Just check the websites of the schools you want to apply to and see if they specifically require a DO LOR. You'll need one if you're planning on applying to LECOM.
 
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the majority of DO schools require a DO LOR...

I was in the same boat as you.. so I applied to 6 DO schools that didn't require a DO LOR (NSU, Touro, COMP, CCOM, KCOM, AZCOM.. i know there are a couple more)... u can find that info on their website/ CIB

however, i still strongly recommend you find a DO to shadow.. it's not too late! i shadowed a DO in August when I applied.. even if it might be too late for them to write you a LOR, i think it will still show that you r trying... (it will also give you something to talk about on your secondaries)

anyways, just my 2 cents, good luck!
 
You don't necessarily need a DO letter, but it seems most DO schools would certainly prefer that you have one. In my case, I shadowed 2 different DOs who didn't come through with a letter in the end. I scrambled an MD letter and got into UMDNJ-SOM (which doesn't require a DO letter) but got waitlisted at DMU and OUCOM (largely because I didn't have said DO letter). Worst of all, LECOM-E never even gave me a yes/no answer after my interview because I didn't have the DO letter.

And honestly it's never too late to start shadowing, provided you can get a letter in time...I did much of my shadowing in August and September of the year I applied.
 
ive been sending secondaries out and have everything complete except for one more LOR im waiting on. I feel like this LOR will really help me in one of my schools im applying to but i dont know if i can afford to wait any longer
 
So for a school like LECOM-B you don't necessarily need a DO letter before your interview (given that you are granted one)? You only need one to get a yes or no answer from them after the interview? Thus they can grant you an interview without a DO letter initially?
 
Posted in different thread
 
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Some schools require "professors" from the sciences to write a LOR. But many of my courses aren't run by professors, instead they are mostly lecturers/instructors. When they say professor do they mean Phd or do they mean someone who instructed the course?
 
my D.O. i've been shadowing agreed to write me a letter today! so pumped :D
 
PCOM LOR requirements:
"Applicants are required to submit a letter of recommendation from the premedical committee or premedical advisor of the undergraduate college that grants or will grant a bachelor's degree, regardless of your academic major, course of study or graduation. If that is not possible, a letter from your academic advisor or Dean of the same institution may substitute. Another letter of recommendation, preferably from an osteopathic physician, is strongly suggested but is not required."

My school doesn't have a premed committee, so I have to submit a Dean's letter. But, the dean doesn't know my personally. Don't I also have to submit letters from my science and nonscience professors (thats what you typically do if you don't have a premed committee)

I am just confused how the dean's letter can make any comments on my abilities if he/she doesn't even know me.
 
Hello all, I am planning on applying within the next couple of days. I do not however have a DO LOR at this moment but I am hoping to get one in 3 weeks. Should I wait to apply? When will med schools ask for the LOR?

Thanks.
 
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thegame11 said:
My school doesn't have a premed committee, so I have to submit a Dean's letter. But, the dean doesn't know my personally. Don't I also have to submit letters from my science and nonscience professors (thats what you typically do if you don't have a premed committee)
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Did/Do you not have an academic advisor? Someone who helps you plan out your courses or anything? I would go with him or her first.

Otherwise contact the dean of your school and provide him/her with your resume. Also ask if you can come in for a chat.
 
Hey mates,

I'm applying for TMDSAS and AACOMAS. I'm about to email my premedical advisor for my committee letter to be sent to TMDSAS, but for DO schools, does the advisor have to sent the letter to each individual school I'm applying to? Also... would it be okay for them to receive my committee letter with my primary? I still have to find a DO to shadow... so that letter will most likely be going with my secondary

Thanks for all ya'lls help.
 
tbone1234 said:
Hey mates,

I'm applying for TMDSAS and AACOMAS. I'm about to email my premedical advisor for my committee letter to be sent to TMDSAS, but for DO schools, does the advisor have to sent the letter to each individual school I'm applying to? Also... would it be okay for them to receive my committee letter with my primary? I still have to find a DO to shadow... so that letter will most likely be going with my secondary

Thanks for all ya'lls help.
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Submit your primary asap. You wait until secondaries and send the letters directly to each school. Don't send the letters to them earlier or they won't have an app to attach it to and will probably discard it, and don't send any letters to AACOMAS as they will be discarded as well.
 
Hi,

I am about to submit application now.
I have volunteered in the past and got a letter from a MD physician. There were originally 13 schools in my list and I had to eliminate WVSOM and LECOM becuase they said letter form DO is required. Many other schools in my list strongly recommend sending DO letters. I have 3.73 GPA from U of Wisconsin - Madison with MCAT (6/10/13M) and I thought I was one of strong applicants. How hard is it to get in without a letter from DO? Maybe I should start shadowing DO physicians, ask them to write me a letter and send them to schools after I submit my application? What's your opinion? Thank you.
 
I had an MD write my letter of rec and it didn't seem to be a problem. Applied to 4 DO schools. Got into 3 and waitlisted at 1.

3.5cGPA (UCLA) 30 MCAT.
 
You should submit your primary with AACOMAS asap. It will take several weeks to get verified.

Once the schools receive your app, they will send you a secondary requesting the LORs.
 
Probably a stupid question, but for those schools who list a letter of rec from a DO as required, is it worth applying to them if all you have is a letter from a MD?
 
Polo423 said:
Probably a stupid question, but for those schools who list a letter of rec from a DO as required, is it worth applying to them if all you have is a letter from a MD?
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Well, yes and no.

During the cycle in which I was accepted, I sent in primaries to a bunch of osteopathic schools that required a DO letter. I didn't have one at that point, but I figured I could scrounge one up before I had to go to any interviews. In the end, I got interview offers from quite a few of the "DO letter only" campuses but wasn't able to get a letter in time (I shadowed 2 DOs who didn't come through in the end...grrr). Each of the campuses I interviewed at that required a DO letter (DMU, LECOM-E, OUCOM, and KCUMB) either waitlisted me or never gave me an acceptance/rejection letter. My first acceptance was at UMDNJ-SOM, which doesn't require a DO letter (fortunately, I'd managed to procure an MD letter). I had at least half a dozen more interviews I could've gone on, but because I still didn't have a DO letter in hand I threw in the towel and sent in my deposit to UMDNJ.

Moral of the story: go ahead and apply to these schools, but try your hardest to dig up a DO letter before you go off to the interviews....
 
Hey all,

I'm applying to TMDSAS and AACOMAS schools. I'm just about done with both apps... but my question is when I request my prehealth committee letter, they'll write and send to TMDSAS as normal. But they shouldn't send it to the AACOMAS schools I'm applying to since they are supposed to be sent with secondaries.

Do I tell my prehealth committee to send to TMDSAS but to save the document and wait till I tell them to send it to DO schools? Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Thanks!
 
tbone1234 said:
Hey all,

I'm applying to TMDSAS and AACOMAS schools. I'm just about done with both apps... but my question is when I request my prehealth committee letter, they'll write and send to TMDSAS as normal. But they shouldn't send it to the AACOMAS schools I'm applying to since they are supposed to be sent with secondaries.

Do I tell my prehealth committee to send to TMDSAS but to save the document and wait till I tell them to send it to DO schools? Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You could either have them send it directly to each DO school, or you could have them send it to Interfolio and then send it to each school yourself.

The pros of Interfolio are that once the letters are uploaded, you have control over when they get sent out. The cons are the cost.

I suppose your committee is free, but I personally would feel better having the letters in Interfolio because secondaries could come so sporadically you'd probably have to constantly be requesting your committee to send the letters and who knows how long they would take.

But then I don't have a committee, so what do I know.;)
 
Yea I was thinking about using interfolio... it seems like it would clear up this problem.

Is it easy to use? The last thing I'd want is to think I'm using it correctly, and actually not be so my LORs don't send lol.

My prehealth committee can send their LOR to a total of 10 schools for free. Since I'm applying to more than 10 I guess I should use interfolio. How does the letter writer submit their LOR to your interfolio account??
 
tbone1234 said:
Yea I was thinking about using interfolio... it seems like it would clear up this problem.

Is it easy to use? The last thing I'd want is to think I'm using it correctly, and actually not be so my LORs don't send lol.

My prehealth committee can send their LOR to a total of 10 schools for free. Since I'm applying to more than 10 I guess I should use interfolio. How does the letter writer submit their LOR to your interfolio account??
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It's really easy to use.

You just either email or print off a letter request form and give it to your letter writer. They can then either send the letter along with the request form to Interfolio, or they can submit it electronically. I have just been telling my letter writers to snail mail it because it's sort of complicated to get an electronic signature.

They then scan the letters in, and you can choose which schools to send it to and which letters to include. It's $6 per packet of letters to each school, plus the membership fee. I think it's $19/yr, or $39 for 3 yrs.

So far it's worked great for me with no problems. My letters have been ready within a week of my letter writers mailing them.
 
o nice. So when you say snail mail, what do you mean?

Do the letter writers mail it to interfolio's address in a stamped envelope? Sounds easy enough I guess. How long does it take for them to scan it so I can see it on my interfolio account?
 
tbone1234 said:
o nice. So when you say snail mail, what do you mean?

Do the letter writers mail it to interfolio's address in a stamped envelope? Sounds easy enough I guess. How long does it take for them to scan it so I can see it on my interfolio account?
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snail mail = usps (in contrast to email - snails are slow - get it? :p) Yes, they need to use a stamped envelope.

I think they scan them right away. The longest for me so far has been 1 week from the date mailed.
 
drctother said:
Soo just out of curiosity, do you guys actually know ALL your references well, as in on a personal level? Or are you basing some of your academic references (ie Science profs) on academics and saying "he or she is a nice person, did well in my class and had a hard work ethic"??

Also, for those of you who have applied already, or already in..... did you just simply ask each reference "would you mind sending it to these 10 schools?" (assuming u applied to many)

Thanks!!
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i would like to know the same thing - i'm doing well in a science class right now, but since it's a summer session the teacher has only known me for about a month... he's really friendly though!
 
I'm probably going to pose this question in the TMDSAS thread as well, but, have any of you gotten interview invites with having everything verified and submitted (including secondaries, since TMDSAS wants for you to fill them out before the primary is verified) without the LOR being in yet?

Although my committee advisor is extremely nice and probably empathetic to my plight, I don't know when she plans on writing my letter or submitting it. I have been updating her, though, so she knows that everything is in (except for my LOR).
 
Hey all, I finally got verified, and secondaries are rolling in.

For KCOM, there's a downloadable printable evaluation form. Does that mean I have to go back to my letter of recommenders and get them to fill this out? I already have a letter of rec. from a science professor and another from a DO. I thought that was all I needed? http://www.atsu.edu/application/kcom/forms\Eval_I_2009.pdf
 
I was wondering if any of you have advice for me in this pressing / delicate area?

I'm waiting on my last LOR so that I can have my Committee letter written and sent. It's from a professor I conducted research with and we have a good relationship and I know it will be a great letter, but here's the catch: She said she wrote and sent it ~1.5 months ago, yet it was never received. I spoke to her over the phone about two weeks ago and she said she would resend a digital copy, which the office has never received. I gave that a week and have been trying to get in touch with her ever since. Now I'm quickly approaching deadlines at some schools where my app will be pulled if I don't complete my supplemental materials within a certain time. How should I go about getting this letter in a non-abrasive manner? It's actually starting to really hurt my chances and I'm about to lose hundreds of dollars due to deadlines that may not be met. I'm usually pretty good about handling these things, but I feel I've exhausted all of my Mr. Nice Guy approaches to get this done. Has anyone else been in a similar situation, how did you resolve it?

Thanks for the advice!
 
Do they need to have an official letter head? Or can it just be a letter signed at the end with their title, office and phone number on the bottom?
 
I should also add that ever since I have known her, she hardly EVER replies to email (and I've learned not to take that personally). She's always great when I talk to her on the phone, but I've spoken to her 3 or 4 times about this clearly to no avail.
 
VeeTeeHokies said:
I should also add that ever since I have known her, she hardly EVER replies to email (and I've learned not to take that personally). She's always great when I talk to her on the phone, but I've spoken to her 3 or 4 times about this clearly to no avail.
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Know where her office is? :poke: until it happens
 
I had to sit in a DO's office until he sent my letter once. I brought him stamps and muffins.
 
Pet of the Week said:
I had to sit in a DO's office until he sent my letter once. I brought him stamps and muffins.
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:laugh: Had to have been the muffins. I just wish I was there to swing by her office. I might have to suck it up and drive down there one day... Really hope it doesn't come to that, but you have to do what you have to do I reckon.

Thanks for the advice and the laughs guys.
 
are you asking so you can fake one?

jk... a lot of times they do have the letterhead, tho i would think there are those that do not, as well.
 
from my understanding.. most doctors (whether employed by others or have their own offices) have their own official letter heads..
tho not specified on most school's website.. i know many rqd official letter head..
i heard some people get delayed in their application process because of this issue..
just to be safe.. i would use an official letterhead..
just my 2 cents.. good luck!
 
how do we know if our confidential letters sent to interfolio were submitted on official letterhead? I guess I'll call them tomorrow and find out.
 
Oh the troubles of LORs... I understand letter writers are busy, but one would think they'd understand the importance of taking a few minutes out of their day!!

I recommend if you're not busy with anything, you take the 3.5 hour drive. This way, you can ensure she will get it done, and it'll show her how important it is that you would drive this far just to speak with her. If I were you, I'd spend today calling the office, and load up my car with snacks for an early drive tomorrow!! Don't forget those muffins! :)

Oh, and you should send an email as well, just so you can say that you've exhausted all other possible ways to reach her.

Hope everything works out!!
 
Honze55 said:
how do we know if our confidential letters sent to interfolio were submitted on official letterhead? I guess I'll call them tomorrow and find out.
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Interfolio customer service is very good and responsive and will look at your documents and let you know. It is better to find out now and get new letters faxed in than to find out when a school doesn't mark you complete for months.
 
Some doctors I've spoken to say that they just make them on Word.
 
Ya, I'm making a few LOR templates, just in case a doctor asks me to write a template for him. Knowing that LORs are not easy to write, that I would make a template with some areas they can fill in.

Also, was checking about the letterhead because they own a private practice, i doubt they ever needed to write a letter head.
 
I'm having this problem too. The doctor owns his own clinic that specializes in the underinsured so naturally he does not have very high tech equipment. Therefore, he said he has no electronic letterhead, so he just sent it in. So far, 4 out of the 6 SMPs I'm applying to said it was fine as long as it's on interfolio, but those are SMPs. Anyways, side note, but letters of rec are the most stressful thing I've ever done. I hate depending on other people to get things done for me.
 
I was in the same position as you! The doctor I shadowed is in downtown LA and I live in San Diego. That's about 2-2.5 hours. Here's the catch. He works 3 jobs and runs his own clinic where he's only available in the hour he's there before the clinic actually opens at 8am. Hence, I had to wake up at 5am to get there. BUT in the end you have your letter of rec and mine turned out very well. Turns out that he really wanted to help me, but he was so busy that he couldn't find time to do it unless I was there helping him. GOOD LUCK!

PS: Just take the drive. Make sure she's there though.
 
Hey guys, thanks for the advice. Just got an email from her saying she is going to resend a snail mail version and a digital version to the office today and that it should be there by early next week at the latest!

The trick: I called her go-to Ph.D. student and had her bring it up to her. I didn't do this sooner because I thought it was a bit of a cop out, but I already have to drive to Philly tomorrow morning to present at a conference I put together (something I don't think I can miss haha). Which would have meant I would have to wait an additional week to drive down there, which I don't think I have the time for.

Hopefully this is the end! :xf:
 
Honze55 said:
how do we know if our confidential letters sent to interfolio were submitted on official letterhead? I guess I'll call them tomorrow and find out.
Click to expand...


I didn't find out that mine weren't signed or on letterhead until I received an email from BU stating that they needed to be resubmitted.

I think the poster above who suggesting calling Interfolio is right, that is the best way to go about verifying what they sent. I didn't even know they did that, but if I had I would have been all over it.
 
How would this look to a DO school?

5 letters of recommendation from doctors. 4 MDs, 1 DO. Three of the MDs are department heads. Also 1 letter from the pre-medical advisor at my school. No science teachers. No any kind of teachers. Help?
 
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