How do LOR's work?

[agh423]

This may be a stupid question, but oh well.

When applying for grad schools, and I need my LOR's turned in, do I have the writers send them directly to the schools? Or do I have the writers mail them to me so I can bundle the whole application together?

Does it vary by school?

Thanks!

[joro]

This may be a stupid question, but oh well.

When applying for grad schools, and I need my LOR's turned in, do I have the writers send them directly to the schools? Or do I have the writers mail them to me so I can bundle the whole application together?

Does it vary by school?

Thanks!

The majority of the time, you'll be sending an email notification to your writers from the application site. Then they will just upload their letter to the site and you'll see status updates on your application whether or not a LOR has been received.

I have encountered only one school where I had to mail the letters myself.

There's also instructions from the school regarding application procedures, so read that to find out what you will need to do.

[fuzzylogician]

In most cases LoRs are uploaded to the application website. Whether your writers will have access to the system while you are working on your app or only after you submit it depends on the specific system. Most of mine allowed writers to access the system anytime.

In case you have to send the letter via post, there are two options: either your writer will have to mail it herself, or you can pick it up from your writer after she's done and send it together with your other app materials (make sure the letter is in a sealed signed envelope). Whenever you have the option to send things yourself, do that.

Your program sites should all have clear instructions on how to send LoRs.