ERAS limits the max of LOR to 4 per institute. Do you have to mail them the extra if you have more? Or do they even care if you have 4?

Dilemma on who to obtain LORs from when on an away rotation.
Do you go with the chairman with whom you spent considerably less time, or do you go with well-known junior faculty with whom you spent considerably more time?
Thanks for any advice.

nsmatch2012 - 03 July 2011 08:23 AM

Dilemma on who to obtain LORs from when on an away rotation.
Do you go with the chairman with whom you spent considerably less time, or do you go with well-known junior faculty with whom you spent considerably more time?
Thanks for any advice.

Well known junior faculty who can write a strong letter would always be better than a chairman’s tepid 1-paragraph summary of your stay. That said, it may raise some eyebrows and may rankle the chairman. If you can get both it may be best, but if you only have room for one, go for the junior faculty and explain the situation if it ever comes up.

What I heard from someone that matched last year is you can upload more than 4 letters, but you cannot assign more than four to a particular program.  However, I think you are notified once a program downloads your application and you can then remove the 4 letters you had and replace them with other letters. After that, the program is notified (either by you or ERAS, not sure on this point) that the application has been updated and they can download the application again.  Can anyone verify this that matched this year?

vealage ideeit - 03 July 2011 12:26 PM

However, I think you are notified once a program downloads your application and you can then remove the 4 letters you had and replace them with other letters. After that, the program is notified (either by you or ERAS, not sure on this point) that the application has been updated and they can download the application again.  Can anyone verify this that matched this year?

This is true, it’s also unnecessary. Just have the letter writer’s secretary email a .pdf version of the LOR to your school’s dean of students office (ie whoever handles processing your LORs / other application stuff at your school). They can then email it to the coordinators at various programs if given their emails. This is a much more sure-fired way to get the LOR actually IN your file.