Interfolio?

[Strong Flat White]

How do people feel about Interfolio? Anybody coughed up the dough and paid for the service? If so, was it worth it? If so, why? Since most schools seem to have their own delivery systems, and since Interfolio claims to be accepted by ALL institutions, does this jive?

Basically I got a prof who will give me a stellar rec but is making it clear he only wants to write/submit once; he's the one who told me about Interfolio. Thus I feel obligated to use it. I don't know if he realizes it costs money, and I don't really want to tell him. Actually I'm perfectly happy to pay it if I can feel good about it not sucking. Since I'm planning to apply to about 15 different schools, my concerns are that a single letter might be too general/not focused for each individual program, and then there's the logistics of delivery.

Many thanks in advance!

[goldenbuff]

I used Interfolio and there are some pros and cons. I submitted 9 applications and had 3 recommenders, one of whom basically did the same thing you describe.

Pros:

-Recommenders don't have to be bothered to submit multiple times.

-Once they submit to Interfolio, YOU control when letters are sent. No more worries about missed deadlines because you control everything. This ended up being thing that made it worth it to me. I applied to a number of schools right after I graduated from undergrad and one of the things that made it stressful/mostly unsuccessful was one of my recommenders being out of the country and cutting some deadlines REALLY close (and missing one)

Cons:

-It costs money. There's a startup fee ($35 I think) and there's a charge for each delivery. I did online deliveries which cost $8 for the first item to each school and an additional $1 for each extra letter.

-There are certain situations where Interfolio will not do online deliveries. They can send letters but they will NOT answer additional questions if they are required of the recommender (for example, rate the candidate in certain areas on a scale from 1-10). If they are required, Interfolio will refuse the delivery and notify you that they couldn't make the delivery. I had this happen with one of my nine apps. In some cases though, they will skip the additional questions if they can (by marking N/A), which could potentially weaken your application.

For you, with 15 applications, you would end up paying about $12.33 per application to submit your letters through Interfolio. To me, that's a small price to pay for peace of mind and knowing that everything will be done on time. If your letters are strong and the additional questions are not required, then I would say it's definitely worth it.

Edited December 16, 2011 by goldenbuff

[Strong Flat White]

Hey, super helpful, thanks goldenbuff/fellow CU person!

Alright, based on that, my last question is whether it's possible to know which schools are going to request additional information (con #2)? Based on my last application experience, I can't access recommendation forms/requests through any given institution's online system until I already have an application open with them, right? So, my options would be to find out through the website's app guidelines (not always possible/specific enough), to ask the department in advance (lots of work, not ideal), and/or to get my application accounts up and running ASAP to know the deal. Am I missing anything, or does that sound about right? I think I'm more or less sold on it, just want to make sure I don't screw myself with it. Thanks again, goldenbuff.

[Swagato]

Call Interfolio and discuss it with them. I've had excellent experiences with their staff, and they are extremely helpful and know their work. They have a constantly-updating list of programs and institutions that present additional questions, or other potential issues. You can check your list against theirs, which would help you tailor your applications.

[pourtant]

I ended up not using Interfolio, but I did a fair amount of research. I talked to customer service reps from Interfolio and then called up some of my schools and asked about using it. Everyone I talked to said they definitely prefer their own system, and that with Interfolio, the letters cannot be tailored to each program and they might not be as recent. Basically it just doesn't look quite as good. I decided not to risk it, but your mileage may vary.

They have a constantly-updating list of programs and institutions that present additional questions, or other potential issues. You can check your list against theirs, which would help you tailor your applications.

Also, when I talked to reps from Interfolio they were really vague about this. I never saw a list or anything. Maybe you need to purchase the service first?

[Swagato]

Letters can be tailored. Interfolio is basically just a dossier service. Meaning, if your letter writers are willing to write 15 different letters (tailored), then they can upload all 15 to Interfolio. Although, obviously, this is not much different from submitting 15 different letters through the universities' own application system.

As far as tailoring goes...I've applied to around 11-12 places, and I would never dream of asking my writers (who are each very high up in the field) to write that many custom letters. It's just asking for trouble when an MA student imposes that tedious a task upon well-known faculty, IMO. As it is, I considered myself fortunate that they were willing to customize the letters for my top 3 choices. So those 3 were uploaded individually, while the 4th letter (per writer) was a more general letter. This last one was uploaded to Interfolio, and I used their service to send it out to the rest of my applications. This sounds more complex than it actually was. In short, my writers had to do just 4 total uploads. I honestly have no idea about how things are at most top-10 places, since I've only had one encounter with such a place. The general impression I got both from people in the PhD cohort and other faculty was that it is really unlikely that professors feel happy about doing ~10 individual uploads. This can, of course, vary amongst institutions.

Interfolio also allows you to store your letters for a year (with the basic service). So I'm not sure about the not-recent part, since that's entirely the user's choice (i.e., whether they want to send a freshly uploaded letter, or an old one).

The list is not visible to end-users; it is on their end. I was able to simply read off my targets for them to verify whether the institutions required additional forms. You are right, however, in suggesting that it may have to do with being a subscriber first, as I was already using their service when I had my talks with them.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Swagato

[pourtant]

Yes, I just assumed that part of the attraction of Interfolio was telling your recommenders "you only have to write one letter!," but they could tailor when necessary.

Thanks for sharing the additional info. I just wish there could be one easy FREE system for these recs.

[Buffster]

Hi everyone

I know this is an old thread but hope someone is still reading!

I am trying to figure out the interfolio system myself. Could someone who has used it please help me in understanding how it works?

 

1. My recommender will write and upload the letter to their interfolio letter writer account

2. Decaf, how do I control when the letters are sent out? Do I have to create a paid account for that? That is the Dossier and Portfolio account?

3. If i have this Dossier account, does that mean I have to send the entire university application using Interfolio?

4. Or can i send the majority of my application using the individual university application system and send out just the letters using interfolio?

 

Thank you to anyone who can answer! I REALLY apprecuate it!

[Reseachh]

Unfortunately, Interfolio was not sufficiently quick. They did some verifications and missed the dead-line. My recommender sent her letter directly to the institution. I've heard from my friend about some problems related to the content of the letters (which is hard to check due to confidentiality of the letters). Will update my post later regarding this issue.