seems like most say they require 3, but don't say a max. so do people typically send 3 or 4...? anyone know?

Some people submit 4 if they have 4 strong letters from well known derm faculty, others submit 3 and then a strong letter from either a research mentor or an attending in a field like medicine

feel like most people I talked to last year submitted 4

Sent 4 to all programs last year, even if they required 3, was totally fine. 3 derm 1 medicine

ty

can I upload a 3rd derm letter after this month's away (likely after Oct 1) or would that be too late?

If you release it to all the programs, it will depend on whether they download the letter. Most programs I've heard download in two batches to catch any stragglers, so theoretically you should be ok uploading that letter, but there's no guarantee a program will get it if they only do one batch download before Oct 1, does that make sense?|yes, thank you!

np! happy to help :)