After you get your letters of recommendation for medical school, you need to make sure your letters make it to AMCAS on time. Here’s what to do.
While you are an enrolled undergraduate, managing letters of recommendation is a task typically handled by your pre-health advisors. But after you graduate you will be forced to manage your letters on your own. That can be a big logistical headache!
Here’s the good news: An online service called Interfolio will manage your letters of recommendation for you, and ensure that the process flows smoothly.
How to use Interfolio to manage your letter of recommendation:
1. Visit the Interfolio website at interfolio.com and sign up for an Interfolio Plan. The Plans vary between 1 and 5 years of service. If you’re planning to apply to med school soon, it’s a good idea to start out with the 1 year plan. If you discover that you need more time, you can easily upgrade later.
2. Login to your new account and get the Interfolio form.
3. Request your letter of recommendation and give the Interfolio form to the person who is recommending you. Fill out all the parts of the form that you possibly can, as the less work your recommender has to do the better.
4. Once they have filled in the rest of the form they then simply need to send the letter to Interfolio. Most professors will know what to do with the form, and instructions on the form will guide them if they’re new to the process.
5. After you’ve given your professor a fair amount of time to write the letter, it is worth double checking with your recommender that they have in fact sent out the form, as delays can be costly.
6. When you need your letters of recommendation to be sent to AMCAS, all you have to do is log into your Interfolio account and request that the letters be sent out.
Interfolio is a great way of dealing with the logistics of letters of recommendation for medical school without getting exasperated and confused. If your pre-health adviser won’t assist you with the process, use Interfolio.
Interfolio is easy, getting high-quality letters of recommendation is hard
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