No PI LOR for research oriented programs. Is this a big problem?

[InJailButOutSoon]

Hello, I hope you are doing well! I have just completed and am currently applying to medical school. My application is centered around research experiences and wanting to work as a physician to not only advocate for patients, but to use the knowledge of unmet needs that I see in the clinic to drive research that solves societal level problems. As such, the largest experience on my application is my research hours by far. However, as I intended on applying to medical school and trying to increase my clinical experiences, my PI kept telling me to cut corners and just get his MD friends to "sign a letter" to "appease the admissions re*****" (his words not mine, and this is not a joke). He had also previously asked me to do unethical things, none of which I did and have screenshots of him writing essays to try to convince me. Needless to say, after all of this, I had enough and quit the lab. I have very high stats from a top 10 undergrad (3.95+, 524) and want to target research oriented schools because they fit my mission. I have 3 pubs (2 4th author, 1 2nd author abstract) with this PI and it is one of my major experiences, but I will not have a letter of rec from this PI. Will this raise eyebrows at research oriented programs and affect my ability to get an interview? Thank you very much for your time, it is much appreciated.

Brief summary of profile just for context:
Research Hours: 1700 (all with PI discussed above)
Research startup: 800 (also with said PI)
Teaching: 1000 (various TA)
Hospital Volunteering: 250
Nonclinical Volunteering: 250 (teaching)
Shadowing: 50 (family med, cardiology, vascular surgery)

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[Med Ed]

It may, but what can you do about it at this point? You could explain the situation somewhere in your application. If you have another letter writer who is familiar with the situation that person could explain it on your behalf. Or you could just apply and see what happens, letting your research output stand on its own merit. Based on what you have shared I don't think there's a fourth option.

Well, actually the fourth option is to seriously beef up your nonclinical volunteering by doing something really outside your comfort zone. If your first cycle is unsuccessful you would then be better positioned to apply more broadly.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If all of your nonclinical volunteering is in teaching to add to 1000 hours of teaching, you need to find something that clearly shows you understand unmet societal problems, as per your purpose. I find that part of your application lacking, as Med Ed pointed out.

As for the original problem... you spent 2500 hours with a PI that clearly showed you a side where integrity is just a word. You can get a prof letter for being a TA. Most schools won't really "care" about your research experience unless you're trying to add a Ph.D, especially given your productivity. Those of us with research backgrounds will look quizzically, and perhaps we will nudge some of our institutional colleagues about the PI. But we know many research PI's who won't write letters for premeds because they only write support letters for those bound for research careers. In short, don't fret over it that much. Getting 3 publications is an accomplishment. I would review my school list and be aware of programs that value that PI letter.

 

[InJailButOutSoon]

Thank you everyone for the feedback! They are much appreciated and give me some pretty clear next steps.

 

[InJailButOutSoon]

If all of your nonclinical volunteering is in teaching to add to 1000 hours of teaching, you need to find something that clearly shows you understand unmet societal problems, as per your purpose. I find that part of your application lacking, as Med Ed pointed out.

As for the original problem... you spent 2500 hours with a PI that clearly showed you a side where integrity is just a word. You can get a prof letter for being a TA. Most schools won't really "care" about your research experience unless you're trying to add a Ph.D, especially given your productivity. Those of us with research backgrounds will look quizzically, and perhaps we will nudge some of our institutional colleagues about the PI. But we know many research PI's who won't write letters for premeds because they only write support letters for those bound for research careers. In short, don't fret over it that much. Getting 3 publications is an accomplishment. I would review my school list and be aware of programs that value that PI letter.

Thank you for the feedback! If you have the time, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on a brief follow up question.

Just for some more background, my volunteer teaching is in helping students in the community around my undergrad institution apply to college and scholarships, something I got invested in after rooming with a local here (not student) who mentioned a lot about how he felt there was no educational support growing up. Beyond that, my narrative centers more around how seeing patients in the hospital not take medications for certain personal/cultural reasons motivated my research into identifying an alternative treatment that got around their specific hesitations. Perhaps my wording about "societal level problems" is not the most precise.

Do you believe that this context would cause my disconnect between research/service hours to be viewed more favorably by admissions advisors such as yourself?

Beyond these clarifications, I'm 100% in agreement with the advice received and plan to increase both clinical and nonclinical hours around these missions in the (not unlikely) event I need to reapply!

 

[chilly_md]

Do you believe that this context would cause my disconnect between research/service hours to be viewed more favorably by admissions advisors such as yourself?

I do not think it would. Your volunteer hours were spent helping others like yourself (ie students). There is less focus on this at research-focused, high stat schools, but some are ones you should avoid applying to as they are still big on service in the community too (UCSF, University of Chicago for example).