Do AdComs verify letters of recommendation with the writer?

Question:  Do Adcoms usually call to verify on a recommendation? If they do, at what point do they do it: when extending the interview or after the interview and just before deciding on the applicant? I turned in My pharmacist LOR in one of the schools after the interview, on the other one on the day of the interview. Do you think it even made a difference or they pretty much probably had the decision made already and my letter came in too late? Or maybe it didn't make a difference before of the short time that I started volunteering at the pharmacy ( just over a month). I know, many question! Ok to sum it up, both schools are meeting around these days and they have not called my pharmacist. Is that probably because they are not accepting me? I'm super anxious about the fact that they have not called him, what does that mean?


Answer: It has been my experience that AdCom will occasionally call the writers of LORs. Personally, I will do this on only a couple of times each year and it is usually with regard to something very specific mentioned in the letter itself. For example, I had an applicant who did poorly on his verbal and writing subset scores and the reviewer "Recommended with reservations" because of some communication issues. This concerned me (as it would most committee members) and I simply wanted to ask about a couple of situations mentioned in the letter.

In those cases when I have directly contacted a writer of an LOR, I did so prior to us offering an interview. As mentioned, in those cases, there was usually something in the application or the letter itself that seemed out of the ordinary or needed clarification. In these situations, I contacted the writer because I wanted to get a better understanding of what was being reported so I could give him/her an honest evaluation

On another occasion, we received two letters that were clearly written by the applicant and submitted in the name of a reviewer. Calling the reviewer confirmed this - he said that he gave permission for the applicant to do this, but it was a major ethical issue for the committee and we did not extend an interview to the applicant.

As a general rule, I would not expect your reviewers to be contacted directly by the school or a committee member. If your reviewers haven't heard from anyone, as an applicant that would probably bother me less than if they had contacted them to ask questions. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Good luck.