Letters of Recommendation
Letters of recommendation (LORs) are usually required to be submitted through AMCAS. Applicants can have up to 10 letters in their application, allowing them to fulfill different schools' requirements. AMCAS has 3 LOR types:
- Committee/Composite Letter: Composed by a Pre-Health Advisor or Committee that represents the institution's evaluation of the applicant.
- If a school requires this letter type, check if it can be written by a Pre-Health Advisor or Committee as UH Mānoa only provides committee/composite letters written by a Pre-Health Advisor.
- If you are applying to a school that requires a letter of recommendation from a pre-health advisor AND you are a UH Mānoa student or graduate, then you can apply for a pre-health advisor letter here.
- Letter Packets: LORs assembled by an institution that may include a cover sheet written by a Pre-Health Advisor. However, no evaluative letter by a Pre-Health Advisor is included in this packet.
- LORs can be stored in and sent by Interfolio.
- Individual Letters: Written by a single author. If an individual letter has been added to either the Committee Letter or Letter Packet, a separate letter entry is not needed.
- References directly submit LORs through AMCAS Letter Writer Application and/or Interfolio.
Note that LOR requirements vary by school. Therefore, it is important to research schools of their interest to understand the requirements beforehand.
LOR Requests
- How to Request a LOR and What to Provide References
- AMCAS's Guidelines for Writing a Letter of Evaluation for a Medical School Applicant should also be provided for references.
- ALWAYS waive your right to view LORs to demonstrate that you completely trust your references.
Submission
- To learn more about the letter submission process, refer to the AMCAS® Letter Service for Advisors and Other Letter Authors.
- You may submit your application even if your LORs have not been submitted yet. As such, it is highly recommended to submit your application as soon as it is complete even if LORs have not been submitted yet.
- Once the application has been verified and the LORs are received, letters cannot be taken back.
- LORs will need to be re-submitted for each cycle.