Interfolio for recs

[wwfrd]

Has anybody compiled any kind of list as to which departments will accept Interfolio for letters of recommendation as opposed to those that will not? I have found some information in several departments' admissions FAQs, but not on others. One of my recommenders is only willing to navigate five websites, total, so I hope to use a service like Interfolio to maximize the number of letters he can send out for me. 

 

Thanks for your help!

[thursday]

Genuinely asking: is it worth getting a recommendation from someone who isn't invested enough in your success? I worry about the quality of his letter if he's not willing to put in like five minutes to navigate more websites, and about his level of knowledge about the application process if he thinks that five is a reasonable number of schools to apply to. Is there anyone else you can ask for a letter?

[wwfrd]

He’s an ~85 year old emeritus professor who is a field leader- probably the best letter I will have, and he approached me first, suggesting he write me a letter. As he put it, the 5 school maximum policy applies to all students for whom he writes letters. Of course it’s not a perfect situation, but given his stature in the field (as well as age) I’m trying to take what I can get...

[Olórin]

Sounds like this letter writer doesn’t have your best interests in mind here. It’s unusual to have people approach you to write a letter, and it puts you in a compromised position. My suggestion is to ask your other letter writers if they think it’s a good idea to have this person write you a letter, and if they have suggestions for how to navigate the situation. 

[Artifex_Archer]

1 hour ago, Olórin said:

Sounds like this letter writer doesn’t have your best interests in mind here. It’s unusual to have people approach you to write a letter, and it puts you in a compromised position. My suggestion is to ask your other letter writers if they think it’s a good idea to have this person write you a letter, and if they have suggestions for how to navigate the situation. 

It's unusual, but not unheard of, depending on the professor and relationship to the student [I've had similar experiences]. Given what @wwfrdhas said about this professor's stature in the field, I'd still use him as a recommender. At absolute worst, it sounds a little bit like he's guarding his own turf and wants to 'tag' the OP as one of his students, which is complimentary if not territorial. And that's probably not even what's going on; it's simply my most cynical interpretation. Given his age, it's more likely a generational thing. 

I'll admit that I preferred having my professors upload their letters directly, but that isn't always feasible, especially when applying to a great many schools. For some universities/committees, it seems not to matter much at all whether a letter comes from Interfolio or the professor themselves; others will outright refuse to accept Interfolio letters.

If this professor has given you a 5-university cap [in terms of individually-uploaded letters], I suggest making sure you direct him to those universities that won't accept Interfolio letters; then, if there are any left over after that, have him do a direct upload to your first choices among those. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by Artifex_Archer

[platonetsocrate]

On 8/2/2020 at 10:30 PM, Olórin said:

It’s unusual to have people approach you to write a letter, and it puts you in a compromised position. 

Just to respond briefly to this part: it’s not clear to me that this is all that unusual. Most professors that I had, as an undergrad, from whom I took upper-division courses in my major would say something at the end of the course along the lines of ‘should you ever need a recommendation, I’d be happy to’. It is my understanding that some professors may make such an offer to any Of their students for whom they feel they could write a good recommendation. 
 

However, I agree with the rest of your advice, namely, that OP ask their other letter writers about the situation. 
 

editing to add another thought: There were a few places where I knew one specific professor’s recommendation would help a LOT. So I had one letter-writer send their letters to just a few places. Perhaps this professor has something similar in mind. My advice for OP a would be to show the professor the list of programs and ask, directly, ‘where is your letter likely to help me the most?’. Then have them send the letter to those programs. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by platonetsocrate

[wwfrd]

11 hours ago, platonetsocrate said:

Just to respond briefly to this part: it’s not clear to me that this is all that unusual. Most professors that I had, as an undergrad, from whom I took upper-division courses in my major would say something at the end of the course along the lines of ‘should you ever need a recommendation, I’d be happy to’. It is my understanding that some professors may make such an offer to any Of their students for whom they feel they could write a good recommendation. 
 

However, I agree with the rest of your advice, namely, that OP ask their other letter writers about the situation. 
 

editing to add another thought: There were a few places where I knew one specific professor’s recommendation would help a LOT. So I had one letter-writer send their letters to just a few places. Perhaps this professor has something similar in mind. My advice for OP a would be to show the professor the list of programs and ask, directly, ‘where is your letter likely to help me the most?’. Then have them send the letter to those programs. 

My situation is close to what you have described- the professor in question thought that I had performed well, and told me that he’d love to write me a letter if I needed one.

 

My plan is to have him submit the letter to four schools that don’t accept Interfolio and to Interfolio for any others. He stated that he’s happy with my sending it to as many places as possible, but that he will not navigate more than 5 websites. I’m finding that a little under half of the schools to which I will be applying will accept the service.

 

Thanks for the advice, I think I will use a similar question to help choose my list of non-Interfolio schools.

[Marcus_Aurelius]

When I applied, my main advisor was an older professor who wasn't good with technology. He asked the department administrator to upload letters for him. Is something like that an option for you, where your advisor could send their letter to a staff member in the dept. who could upload to more sites?