Sending Your Reference Letters

As long as you maintain an active file, The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service (RLS) will mail your letters to graduate and professional school admissions offices, appropriate prospective employers, and scholarship and fellowship organizations at your request. Requests to mail your letters may be sent online or downloaded and submitted either by mail, fax (734/763-4917), or in person to the RLS. The RLS is unable to accept requests by phone or email.

Please note that in order to submit your requests online, you will need your UM uniqname login and password. If you have a UM uniqname login but have forgotten your password, please call 734/764-HELP (764-4357) for assistance. If you do not have a current UM uniqname (or you never had one), please call the ITCS Accounts Office at 734/764-8000.

Or

Download and submit your request by mail, fax or in person

Remember that your file must be active (i.e., within five years from when it was established or renewed) for your request to be processed.  Requests are filled with the letters that are in your file at the time the request is submitted. Please take responsibility for checking the status of your file and ensure that all the expected letters have indeed arrived prior to submitting a request. The RLS is unable to hold requests until a certain letter arrives.

Request Forms, Mailing Options and Costs
You can submit your mailing requests to the Reference Letter Service online or on paper. Please choose from one of the following mailing options. All prices listed are per address, and payment is due at the time the request is made. When submitting your requests online, you can only pay by utilizing a credit card (MasterCard or Visa). When submitting your requests in person or by mail, in addition to credit cards, you can also use cash or checks made to “The University of Michigan.” Lack of payment may result in processing delays.

Submit a request online

Or

Download paper request forms to drop off, fax or mail to the RLS office

Standard Mail: $6 per address
Standard requests have a 2-4 business day processing time plus an estimated delivery time of 3-4 business days. Letters are sent via US First-Class Mail.

Submit the Standard Request Form online

Or

Download the Standard Request Form on paper

Virtual Mail: $6 per address (AMCAS and participating medical schools only)
Virtual requests have a 2-4 business day processing time and practically an immediate delivery. Letters are sent via VirtualEvals, a system that only pertains to participating allopathic and osteopathic medical schools.

Submit the Virtual Request Form online

Or

Download the Virtual Request Form on paper

Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation: $10 per address
Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation Requests have a processing time of 1-3 business days. Letters are sent via US Priority Mail, with an estimated delivery time of 2-3 business days. This delivery period is not a guarantee by the Post Office. Delivery Confirmation, a tracking service that provides the date and time of delivery, is included with all Priority Mail requests. Please note that Priority Mail may not be delivered to international locations.

Submit the Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation Form online

Or

Download the Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation Form on paper

Federal Express Overnight: $20 per address in the U.S., $25 to Canada/Mexico, $30 International
Overnight requests are the fastest delivery option for clients with more immediate shipping needs. Letters are sent via Federal Express. FedEx is unable to deliver to PO Boxes; consequently, all requests must be accompanied by a complete street address and phone number. Requests received by 11:00 am ET will be processed the same business day and delivered the next business morning to addresses within the United States. International requests are delivered in 2-3 business days. Requests received by the RLS after 11:00 am ET will be processed the next business day.

Submit the Federal Express Overnight Form online

Or

Download the Federal Express Overnight Form on paper

Letters Plus! Sending Additional Materials with Your Letters: $25 per address in the U.S., $30 to Canada/Mexico, $35 International
This service is for those who may need or want to have their application materials mailed along with their reference letters. Letters Plus! requests are processed via Fed Ex Overnight service and must be accompanied by a Letters Plus! Release form. Please note that FedEx is unable to deliver to PO Boxes; consequently, a complete street address and phone number must accompany all requests. Requests received by 11:00 am ET will be processed the same business day and delivered the next business morning to addresses within the United States. International requests are delivered in 2-3 business days. Requests received by the RLS after 11:00 am ET will be processed the next business day. If you are unable to deliver your additional materials to the RLS in person, please contact the RLS manager at 734/764-7459 or via e-mail at rlservice@umich.edu for further instructions.

Please note that given the special nature of the Letters Plus! Service, requests for this mailing option may not be submitted electronically.

Download the (1) Federal Express Overnight and (2) Letters Plus! Release forms

Information for Pre-Law Students
The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service will forward reference letters directly to law schools and/or to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) upon your request. An official LSAC Letter of Recommendation form must accompany all reference letters sent to LSAC.  This form is available in the Online Services section of the LSAC website.

If you elect to have the Reference Letter Service send your letters to LSAC, please submit one LSAC Letter of Recommendation form to the Reference Letter Service for each letter you wish to send at the time that you submit your request (whether on paper or electronically). The LSAC Letter of Recommendation form(s) can be either mailed, faxed (734/763-4917) or delivered in person to the Reference Letter Service. When you complete the LSAC Letter of Recommendation form, the top part of the form automatically will be filled using the information you provided in your LSAC account. The lower portion of the LSAC Letter of Recommendation form can either be filled with the recommender’s name and address, or—if the recommender’s address is not available—with the recommender’s name and the RLS address. If your reference letters housed in the Reference Letter Service were written a while ago and you are not certain about the current address of your recommenders, it is highly advisable to use the Reference Letter Service’s contact information in lieu of using each recommender’s specific, and potentially obsolete, address. The Reference Letter Service contact information is: c/o 3200 SAB, 515 E. Jefferson, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316. Phone: 734/764-7459. E-mail: rlservice@umich.edu. Again, the LSAC Letter of Recommendation form is available in the Online Services section of the LSAC website.

Information for Pre-Medical Students

Due to the size of the University of Michigan pre-medical student body, in lieu of a formal pre-medical committee, the Career Center’s Reference Letter Service (RLS) serves as the centralized location for housing reference letters written in support of application to medical school.

While AMCAS is now prepared to receive letters directly from the recommenders via the LWA, this most likely won’t be the most practical approach for most UM students. This is due to the fact that not all medical schools participate in the AMCAS Letter of Evaluation (AMCAS LOE) service, which means that your recommenders, if using LWA, will have to write multiple letters if you are also applying to non-AMCAS LOE participating schools, osteopathic medical schools, international medical schools, etc. In addition, the AMCAS LOE is not a repository of reference letters. It just serves as a conduit for handling letters for the duration of the current application cycle. Given that nationally about half of all applicants fail to gain admission, these individuals will have to collect new reference letters if they wish to reapply. On the contrary, if you utilize the UM Reference Letter Service, your recommenders will be able to write just one letter. The original will stay at UM for the longevity of your RLS file (i.e., five years) while virtual or paper copies may be sent to AMCAS, non AMCAS LOE participating schools, osteopathic medical schools, MD/PHD programs, international medical schools, etc., for the current and future cycles.

If using the UM RLS, as a pre-medical student, plan to use the Pre-Medical Evaluation form.

Letters submitted to the RLS on this form can only be used in support of your application to medical schools. Letters cannot be used for applying to other graduate or professional schools, internships, externships, scholarships, fellowships, summer programs or jobs.

The vast majority of allopathic medical schools (MD) allow AMCAS to collect and distribute reference letters on their behalf via the AMCAS LOE service. Other schools, including all osteopathic medical schools (DO) require applicants to send letters directly to them.

When you send your letters directly to AMCAS (via the RLS) for further distribution to the medical schools participating in the AMCAS LOE program you have the option to send your letters either:

1. as a letter packet, or
2. as individual letters.

1. Letter Packet
If you send all your letters as a packet, AMCAS handles your packet as an “unbreakable” unit and will forward it in its entirety to any medical school as you designated in your AMCAS application. Use this option only if you plan to use the exact same combination of letters for all your medical schools participating in the AMCAS LOE program. Here is what to do:

In your AMCAS application:

• Complete the Letter of Evaluation Tab to obtain a single Letter ID # for the entire packet—choose “Letter Packet”
• Use the RLS name and contact instead of the Letter Writer/Contact information
• You don’t need to add additional authors for a Letter Packet
• Identify the medical schools to which the whole packet should be sent in the Medical Schools Tab
• Print an AMCAS Letter Request Form for your records, make a note of the Letter ID for the whole packet and remember to include it when submitting your request to send to the RLS

In your RLS request to send:

• Ensure all your letters have already been received by the RLS before submitting your request
• Choose the “Medical School Admissions-AMCAS Only” request type option
• Include the Letter ID # you were assigned for your Letter Packet in the Comments/Notes box—AMCAS will not accept letters without this number!

2. Individual letters
If you send your letters as individual units, AMCAS will allow you to choose customized combinations of letters for each school as you specify in your AMCAS application. Here is what to do:

In your AMCAS application:

• Complete the Letter of Evaluation Tab to obtain a Letter ID # for each letter—choose “Individual Letter” multiple times
• Enter the Letter Writer’s name and contact information as appropriate
• Choose specific letters for each of your designated medical schools in the Medical Schools Tab—your pre-populated list of letters already entered will appear
• Print a letter request form for each letter for your records; make a note of the Letter IDs and remember to include them in your request to send through the RLS
• Please note: Letters information does not have to be entered before submission of your AMCAS application. However, once your AMCAS application is submitted with letter information, no changes are allowed.

In your RLS request to send:

• Ensure all your letters have already been received by the RLS before submitting your request
• Choose the “Medical School Admissions-AMCAS Only” request type option
• Include the Letter ID #s you were assigned for each of your letters in the Comments/Notes box—AMCAS will not accept letters without these numbers!

If you send your letters directly to non-AMCAS LOE participating schools and osteopathic schools, you will have the option to send your letters via virtual or regular paper mail. Details about shipping methods

If you are sending them via Virtual Mail, you need to identify a core set of letters for application to each program type—MD, MD/PhD, and DO—as applicable.  While you will be able to add letters to your core set later, all your designated medical schools will have access to all letters in your virtual file.

Be sure to select the appropriate request type (i.e., Medical School Admissions) and shipping method (virtual, standard, priority or FedEx) when submitting your request to the RLS.

Many medical schools require or strongly recommend that applicants include their AAMC or AACOMAS identification number with their reference letters.  Please note: this number is unrelated and thus different from the Letter ID# we discussed above.

If you are submitting your request electronically to the RLS to send to allopathic or osteopathic medical schools (whether directly to AMCAS or the individual medical schools), your AAMC and AACOMAS number will be captured through that process and will be automatically associated with your letters.

However, if you are sending your medical school reference letters via paper, you need to submit a completed Allopathic and/or Osteopathic Medical School Supplemental Information Release Form to facilitate the matching of your reference letter packet with your application.

For questions, please contact the RLS office at 734/764-7459 or send an e-mail to rlservice@umich.edu

Information for Pre-Dental Students

Due to the size of the University of Michigan pre-health student body, in lieu of a formal pre-health committee, the Career Center’s Reference Letter Service (RLS) serves as the centralized location for housing reference letters written in support of application to dental schools.

It is your responsibility to identify individuals to write reference letters on your behalf.  Give them a filled out RLS General Evaluation Form to complete the task.   Please do not use the Pre-Medical Evaluation Form if you are planning to apply to dental schools.

Upon your request, the RLS will forward your letters directly to individual dental schools and/or to the Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS).

If you elect to have the RLS send your letters to AADSAS, you need to have a Letter Of Evaluation Matching Form (LOE). To print the LOE Matching Form, login in your AADSAS application, select Evaluators from the Application Checklist, and complete the screen as follows:

You will need just one LOE Matching Form, regardless of the number of evaluators you entered since your letters will be sent as one packet.  The LOE Matching Form can be either mailed, faxed (734/763-4917) or delivered in person to the RLS office when submitting your request.  For further questions, please contact the RLS at 734/764-7459.

Information for Rackham Applicants
The University of Michigan Reference Letter Service (RLS)
offers UM students and alumni/ae the opportunity to house their letters of reference in support of their application to Rackham graduate programs as well as other programs nationwide.

Please note: The RLS General Evaluation Form replaces the Rackham Recommendation for Admission form. Give this form to your recommenders and have them return their materials directly to the UM RLS.

When submitting your request to the RLS to send letters, please be sure to specify “Rackham” along with the Department and Organization name.

Employment Requests
The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service (RLS) will forward reference letters for employment purposes after verifying that an opening exists with the hiring personnel of a company or organization. When submitting employment-related requests, it is necessary to include complete contact information with the hiring person’s name, title, and phone number, as well as the job title of the open position. Failure to provide complete contact information may result in processing delays.

In order to protect the confidentiality of the reference letters, the RLS is unable to send letters to certain parties, including but not limited to, current employers, residential addresses, and third-party recruitment services. The RLS may deny a request for which complete or verifiable information is not obtainable.

Restrictions on Requests
To comply with both Federal and University guidelines, the RLS is unable to send reference letters to certain locations, including but not limited to:

• Current or previous employers
• Residential/personal addresses
• Residential employment (babysitting, nanny positions, etc.)
• Financial aid offices (exceptions for some fellowships and scholarships)
• Mortgage companies, prospective landlords, etc.
• Friends or family members
• Test preparation organizations
• Private application coaching and consulting services
• Third-party recruitment services
• Pre-medical advisors at other institutions for compilation of a composite letter
• Independent reference letter services and those associated with other colleges and universities.

If you have questions regarding the use of your reference letter file or addresses to which you are sending letters, please contact the RLS before submitting your request. You will be notified if your request does not meet both Federal and University guidelines and your payment will be returned to you.

PLEASE NOTE that any attempt to access a file and view confidential reference letters will be considered in violation of the University of Michigan’s Statement of Student Rights & Responsibilities and will be handled through the Office of Student Conflict Resolution and possibly through the Court system.

Resending Your Letters
It is the responsibility of The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service (RLS) to ensure that your requests are processed and sent in a timely and accurate fashion. However, it is your responsibility to ensure appropriate delivery of your letters to the prospective recipients.

Occasionally, letters of reference don’t make it inside your application folder at your prospective employer or graduate or professional school for various reasons. The RLS has no control over the efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service and Federal Express, nor can the RLS monitor the internal processing of your letters once they reach an application assembly service or the individual graduate and professional schools that you targeted. The RLS will, however, at your request, resend letters that don’t arrive at their intended destination.

If you receive written notification from a school that your reference letters are missing, the RLS staff strongly recommends that you follow up with the school by phone to insure that the letters have not been received in the interim. After verifying that the letters have not been received, please call the RLS at 734/764-7459 or send an e-mail to rlservice@umich.edu to alert the staff to the situation and to request a resend as appropriate. Depending on how the letters were sent in the first place, you will have to follow a different procedure.

Resending by Standard Mail
Requests for resending letters that were originally shipped by standard mail are free of charge if ten business days have elapsed since the RLS processed the original request and the address provided was correct. In this case, you will need to complete a paper Standard Mail Request Form and mail/fax/or deliver it in person to the RLS. Write “RESEND” in the credit card information section of the paper Standard Mail Request Form since no charge will apply. Please note that since no charge is involved, you won’t be able to submit a standard mail request online because there is no way to bypass the credit card section without incurring a charge.

If you don’t wish to wait for the ten business days to elapse, or you would like to make changes to the address originally listed on your request form, or you wish to send a different combination of letters, you will need to pay for what is essentially a new request. See Request Forms, Mailing Options and Costs for details.

Resending by the Other Mail Options
Given the particular nature of electronic transmission, resending is usually not necessary when the letters were originally sent by virtual mail. However, if you are notified by a medical school that your letters were not received, please call the RLS at 734/764-7459 or send an e-mail to rlservice@umich.edu to check on the status of your virtual file.

The RLS does not resend Overnight or Priority materials free of charge because those requests can be monitored via the tracking number provided by Federal Express and the US Postal Service.