Interfolio - risk or godsend?

[Imogene]

I'm debating using something like this service this time around -- since it's my second to-do, I feel I owe it to my LORs to go easy on them, and I also think I'm widening the net this go around (probably somewhere between 9-12 apps).

But I'm a little nervous about it -- obviously, this means there will be no personalization in the letter for each school, but chances are my LORs are sending a "to whom it may concern" letter anyway, I guess. Is there a downside to using this from the adcomm perspective? I mean, will the adcomm even be able to tell (beyond the "to whom it may concern" part)?

Also, I haven't been able to find a comparable alternative to Interfolio -- anyone know of any?

I realize the cost is a factor here as well, but I figure this is a go for broke year for me, why not make it literal.

[ghijklmn]

Hmm, I can't say much about the personalization issue, but I have noticed that quite a few schools say they don't accept Interfolio. You should probably check to make sure that all the schools you're applying to accept it.

[Stately Plump]

I didn't use Interfolio. In fact, I had never even really heard of it, until after the process was complete. But I do know that my letter-writers wrote one letter that they uploaded to every school; they admitted this to me. The only exception to that was my advisor's letter to her alma mater. She added a paragraph to that letter about how I'd be a great fit there, but other than that, every letter was identical.

I don't think adcomms are expecting personalized letters from recommenders. They are professors too; they understand the extraordinary demand on their time, whether through teaching, research, service committees, or writing letters for faculty/students. They wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) expect a personalized letter from every recommender.

[Enzian]

I used Interfolio at the recommendation of one of my LOR writers. I think the process, overall, was easier for them because of it and they seemed grateful. I applied to more than 10 programs (it's funny/suspicious how quickly I forgot the details of this process...13 maybe?) half in one field (-ish) half in another so my writers theoretically only had to draft two letters, upload twice, and that was it. Theoretically. Some programs want the LOR writers to fill out a little form along with their letter and one program just outright refused to accept letters from Interfolio (Ohio State, if I remember right). So the process became more complicated than I initially imagined but I do still think it was less of a hassle for them in the end, especially because then I just had those letters and could resend them if a program lost (?) them or whatever. The schools that accepted letters from Interfolio with little to no extra finagling of the system outnumbered those that didn't.

It occurs to me as I'm writing this that I could have used them to apply to dozens more programs with a sort of generic application if only I'd had the $$$. Think of all the potential rejection letters I could have framed! #missedopportunities