LORs for multiple universities

[carlyhylton]

I am a second year undergrad student, trying to do a lot of thinking before I start working on grad school application (contacting profs etc) next year

Hypothetically...

if I am applying to a lot of universities, say twenty (I think this would be ideal although I don't know if this is even possible considering the amount of time an application takes)...

how would I get LORs for each university!?

Would I get my recommender to write a generic letter that could be applied to all universities and have them sent out?

Or does this large request limit the amount of applications one can make?

Thanks : )

[Strangefox]

how would I get LORs for each university!?

Would I get my recommender to write a generic letter that could be applied to all universities and have them sent out?

Yes, it is usually done this way.

[newms]

Yes, it's usually a generic letter, but actually submitting it might take a few minutes, since there is sometimes a some questions on an online form that the LoR writers have to answer.

[jynx]

I applied to Clinical Psychology programs this year, and I actually found that most schools I applied to "strongly preferred" that recommenders use their online form. So when you're filling out your app, you write in your recommenders' email addresses, and it sends them the form. The only thing is, this is very time-consuming for your recommenders, because each school has a different form, and sometimes there are technical difficulties. Different recommenders will feel differently about this, though; two of mine filled out all 14 online forms without complaint, but one of them said she didn't have time and opted to write a generic letter and upload it to interfolio.com. From there, I was able to send her recommendation to most of the schools on my list. However, about 3 of the 14 schools required the use of their online form, and would not accept recommendations sent in any other format.

Applying to 20 schools should be fine. You're expected to apply to 15 or so for Clinical Psych, and your professors will know that. Just supply them all your materials well in advance of the deadline (about 2 months is good).