Letters of Rec

[FletchHaris]

Schools require differing LOR's.

Is it okay to go with the following

1. Science Professor & Research Advisor
2. Non-Science Upper level Course Instructor
3. Hospital Volunteer Coordinator
4. Science Professor
5. Doctor I shadow (very close with this guy....he said I could write my own LOR if I wanted...don't know if I should take him up on it, his English is pretty bad as he moved here after practicing in Russia for many years, I'm Russian too, so yes, foreign hook-up but he is not a family friend)

Should I have more than 5 letters? I also work as a teacher, I don't know if it's appropriate to ask my Principal or a co-worker to write me an LOR

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[gyngyn]

Schools require differing LOR's.

Is it okay to go with the following

1. Science Professor & Research Advisor
2. Non-Science Upper level Course Instructor
3. Hospital Volunteer Coordinator
4. Science Professor
5. Doctor I shadow (very close with this guy....he said I could write my own LOR if I wanted...don't know if I should take him up on it, his English is pretty bad as he moved here after practicing in Russia for many years, I'm Russian too, so yes, foreign hook-up but he is not a family friend)

Should I have more than 5 letters? I also work as a teacher, I don't know if it's appropriate to ask my Principal or a co-worker to write me an LOR

For most places two science profs plus one other is fine.
Do not use a physician you shadowed unless it it requested (usually by a DO school).
Be sure to check the LOR requirements at each school to which you apply. Tailor them accordingly.
Do not send more than the requested type or number.

 

[040111333]

For most places two science profs plus one other is fine.
Do not use a physician you shadowed unless it it requested (usually by a DO school).
Be sure to check the LOR requirements at each school to which you apply. Tailor them accordingly.
Do not send more than the requested number.

I'm a little confused about this: For example, UVA SOM says:

The School of Medicine prefers a premedical advisor evaluation, or if this service is not available, a minimum of two letters, preferably from science professors or the equivalent. You may also have individual letters sent to AMCAS in addition to a premed advising evaluation. While there is no limit to the number of letters you may submit, please keep in mind that it is better to have a few meaningful letters from individuals who know you well than to have a larger number of superficial letters of recommendation.

My school does not have a pre-med committee…so if I applied to UVA, should I only send 2 LOR's although I have like 5 LORs at hand? Even though they say there is no limit, would they be annoyed if we sent more than the minimum numerical value they posted? How much is too much?

 

[gyngyn]

I'm a little confused about this: For example, UVA SOM says:

The School of Medicine prefers a premedical advisor evaluation, or if this service is not available, a minimum of two letters, preferably from science professors or the equivalent. You may also have individual letters sent to AMCAS in addition to a premed advising evaluation. While there is no limit to the number of letters you may submit, please keep in mind that it is better to have a few meaningful letters from individuals who know you well than to have a larger number of superficial letters of recommendation.

My school does not have a pre-med committee…so if I applied to UVA, should I only send 2 LOR's although I have like 5 LORs at hand? Even though they say there is no limit, would they be annoyed if we sent more than the minimum numerical value they posted? How much is too much?

Two strong letters would be fine for this school. Three very good letters would be ok.
If you are sure that you have four spectacular letters, then send them (with the instructions above).
It is a common error to submit too many letters. Believe me, we will notice.
With the information in your first post, it appears that letters 1,2 and 4 would be fine for this school.

 

[040111333]

Two strong letters would be fine for this school. Three very good letters would be ok.
If you are sure that you have four spectacular letters, then send them (with the instructions above).
It is a common error to submit too many letters. Believe me, we will notice.
With the information in your first post, it appears that letters 1,2 and 4 would be fine for this school.

Thanks gyngyn! I'm actually not the OP, but just wanted to ask my question here since it was on the topic anyway. In your opinion and for a school like yours, what is the max. number of LOR's that we can send in before it starts to annoy the committee? For example, if a school has no specification and says unlimited LOR's, does that mean I can send in 5 very good ones or is that too much?

 

[gyngyn]

Thanks gyngyn! I'm actually not the OP, but just wanted to ask my question here since it was on the topic anyway. In your opinion and for a school like yours, what is the max. number of LOR's that we can send in before it starts to annoy the committee? For example, if a school has no specification and says unlimited LOR's, does that mean I can send in 5 very good ones or is that too much?

Three strong letters is a good number. Everything after that becomes tedious.
Remember, we read thousands of applications.
Fluff is not helpful, but if a school requests a larger number, then you must comply...

 

[040111333]

Three strong letters is a good number. Everything after that becomes tedious.
Remember, we read thousands of applications.
Fluff is not helpful, but if a school requests a larger number, then you must comply...

Okay, thanks for clarifying! So for pre-med committee LOR packages, I heard that they sometimes include 6-10 LORs…do adcoms read all of these individual LORs that are included in the package, or just the compiled committee LOR?

 

[FletchHaris]

Two strong letters would be fine for this school. Three very good letters would be ok.
If you are sure that you have four spectacular letters, then send them (with the instructions above).
It is a common error to submit too many letters. Believe me, we will notice.
With the information in your first post, it appears that letters 1,2 and 4 would be fine for this school.

Lol that other person that replied is different from me.

But thank you for your advice.

When you said, tailor your rec's, can I choose which recs to send to which schools? Some say they have a 3 letter maximum, but others say they have a 4 letter minimum. Haha so confusing!

And for DO Schools is it okay if I've only shadowed MD? And get an MD letter?

 

[Primo Beats]

I don't think UF has any requirements for letters of rec. just a minimum of 3

 

[gyngyn]

Okay, thanks for clarifying! So for pre-med committee LOR packages, I heard that they sometimes include 6-10 LORs…do adcoms read all of these individual LORs that are included in the package, or just the compiled committee LOR?

Committee letters are a package deal. There is no need to send more. Yes, we read the whole darn thing.

 

[gyngyn]

Lol that other person that replied is different from me.

But thank you for your advice.

When you said, tailor your rec's, can I choose which recs to send to which schools? Some say they have a 3 letter maximum, but others say they have a 4 letter minimum. Haha so confusing!

And for DO Schools is it okay if I've only shadowed MD? And get an MD letter?

By this I mean, send the correct number of the right type of LOR to each school.
If a school asks for a two sciences and a humanities, send them exactly what they requested.
We are also evaluating your ability follow instructions.
DO schools vary in their physician letter requirement. You need to check each school.

 

[Edv14]

What about a committee letter with this letter packet accompanying it?
Three academic letters (including one from a professor you did research and published with)
A letter from your research PI (several / many schools seem to expect this)
A letter from the doctor you scribe for (and you scribe for one doctor for an extended period of time, so they know you really well)

This is five letters. I could submit four (all the letters are either submitted or being written but the one from the doctor for whom I'm a scribe), however I feel like a letter from a doctor you've scribed for for hundreds of hours would almost certainly offer a point of view not seen in any of the other letters and would seem like a valuable addition. I get why people don't want to read tons of letters from every applicant though.

 

[the_fella]

Fwiw, I would advise against writing it yourself. If that is discovered, you could get into a lot of trouble.