<p>I apologize if this question is redundant but I couldn't find any prior threads on the same subject...</p>
<p>I'd prefer to use paper applications exclusively for all of my schools because each of my schools seems to have slightly different policies about applying online, and I'd rather not ask my recommenders to deal with eight different sets of submission instructions. My impression is that most recommenders would prefer to do things the way they've been doing them for twenty years: receiving addressed envelopes from students and mailing off hard copies of letters. I also feel as if it would be easier to keep paper applications organized (in the absence of a single clearinghouse site like commonapp.org at the undergraduate level). Pulling together a bunch of different online accounts and then getting my recommenders to hassle with each of them seems like a recipe for frustration.</p>
<p>At the same time, it seems as if everyone is now starting to apply online, and at least one of my programs states clearly on their website that they prefer electronic apps. </p>
<p>Thoughts, anyone? Any informed opinions about whether an all-paper approach is ill-advised? What are you all doing: paper, electronic, or some combination thereof?</p>
<p>I'm willing to answer this even though it seems like a D'oh question, because I went through this about a month ago.</p>
<p>I was going to do paper apps if it killed me. I too thought it would be easier. So: printed them all, filled some of them out, kept making dingbat mistakes (like year of graduation: DUH. But no, I put 2008, because I'm that smart), used a whole bottle of white-out, looked at final result, realized it looked like crap, went online, filled everything out in a snap, and sent it.</p>
<p>Online really is easier. Just print all your teacher forms in one go and snail mail them as you apply, that's what I'm doing.</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to reply, theredsmileyface: maybe at some point you'll ask a question that I find obvious, and I'll be able to return the favor. I don't want to get in to all the specifics of my situation, but I think that paper would work better for me, for one reason and another. I'm just wondering how it will be received. If anyone has insight into that question, I'd appreciate it!</p>
<p>If your rational is like mine: well, I'm a little OCD, so I thought I HAD to do paper just so I could check and recheck everything a million times and then make sure that everything got there at the same time (recs, forms, essays). The idea of sending things in waves - some electronically, some in paper, some through the school - made my teeth hurt. It just seemed so disorganized.</p>
<p>But nine in ten applicants use online now. I read that somewhere. I don't think that paper would be terribly recieved or anything, unless you used white-out or have terrible handwriting.... but these schools have a new adapted system. Some don't even accept paper anymore.</p>
<p>My strategy: I went through ALL of my schools' websites, printed every PDF teacher form (so I could hand them in and ask for recs at the same time), got the signed and sealed envelopes back (addressed) - then filled an application, mailed the letters of rec the same day, and sent a transcript from my school the next morning.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters whether the application is submitted online or paper. However, keep in mind that a lot of the schools are moving away from the paper application and some schools explicitly say that you must have your recommendations done online. So I guess it all boils down to which school you want to apply.</p>
<p>I think online is actually far easier for everyone involved. If you like keeping files, just keep one with all your account information together. Your letter writers will also probably prefer the online submission as they get an e-mail that they simply click the link in and copy and paste what they have written for you. I would be far more worried about my professors loosing the SASE I had given them under piles of papers, tests and journals then I would about them missing an e-mail. Plus you can always re-send the e-mail from the application site as a reminder. If none of that has swayed you think of this: Online is instant whereas snail mail during the holidays is not. I personally had at least one letter writer keep putting off one application until I had to call him and remind him that it was due that day. He submitted online and there were no problems.</p>
<p>One last thought: If they submit online you get a notification that it has been completed and you can stop worrying if the letter got to the school or not. You can check the website and see who is slacking and who needs a little push. :)</p>
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If they submit online you get a notification that it has been completed and you can stop worrying if the letter got to the school or not. You can check the website and see who is slacking and who needs a little push.
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<p>This alone was the best thing about online applications for me. One of my schools required that recommendations be mailed in, and they took about two weeks after receiving the recommendation to update my account status online. I was starting to sweat pretty bad since I was already home for winter break and my recommender had been putting off writing that recommendation for months (all the online ones were done within a day or two of them receiving the notification e-mail).</p>
<p>Also, as a note to all applicants. Be sure to put your name at the top of EVERY page you send with your applications. On your SOP put a header or footer with your name, program, and page number. It might seem unlikely, but what if they print off 100 applications and then accidentally drop a stack of unstapled applications. Think that sort of attention to detail might be a nice little feather in your cap?</p>
<p>^ And, AND double check with the recommenders as the due date draw nears to make sure they still have that e-mail from the online application site (like Embark) directing them to submitting their letters. One of my profs lost it in her massive inbox somewhere and I had to get the site to send her another e-mail.... sigh. Especially if you sent the request like 2 months earlier.</p>
<p>I have to say that online letter of recommendation submission is much easier for recommenders. </p>
<p>And in fact, I've recently noticed that many of the letters to entirely different programs are actually uploaded to the same place. It must be a service subscribed to by many major universities. (No, it's not Interfolio -- that's different.)</p>
<p>i for one find the online recommendation system extremely frustrating.</p>
<p>at my school there is a letter service where letter writers mail their letters to this service, and the students use this service to distribute letters to the schools they're applying to. it's an easy system and only takes one letter from each writer.</p>
<p>now with the online requirement for recommendations (a lot of the schools i've looked at require it), letter writers have to submit information multiple times (which gets aggravating, is time consuming, and frustrating for the student when you have to remind three people that deadlines are coming up). </p>
<p>i'd say i loathe using an online system for recommendations (though not for submitting the student's personal application). it gets especially frustrating for letter writers when for every student whom they've agreed to write for, they are faced with 7+ online registration e-mails to fill out. it is simply not a reasonable system, and i hope they change this aspect in the future.</p>