Physician wants info before LOR

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Bin Rushd

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Hello guys.

So I've shadowed this physician for about 20 hours and yesterday was the last day I was with him and I asked for a LOR (he offered to write one on the first day).

He said before he writes it I need to write a few points or info about me that I want him to include and he will make that his first paragraph of the letter (and the rest will be what I did with him, learned, etc).

First off, I know this is a sort of vague question, but my question is what exactly do I write? I thought the whole letter was under his control. I asked him if he wants my personal statement and he said sure but he still wants the aforementioned info. I just don't know exactly what to write...especially since he plans on including it in the beginning of his letter.

Help. Anybody?

Thanks.

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Provide some information about you that he might have forgotten or you may not have mentioned
  • Your full name
  • Standpoint at University (What year?) Maybe GPA (if high) or Research?
  • Clubs
  • Speciality you're looking into maybe?
He just wants to have an idea of what to mention in the first part, which is understandable.
 
I'd go with just full name, college, major, minor.

The Dean of Admissions at my school harps on the idea that rehashing things about you that are in other sections of the application (GPA, other activities) do not add information we don't already have. "Tell we something I don't know. Tell me what you observed about the applicant."
 
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I personally gave the physicians who wrote me letters resume and personal statement. Seemed good enough to me
 
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Ok. Thanks for the replies everyone.

LizzyM, how useful do you think the physician LORs are? I heard they're useless if you only shadowed for a few days, yet if the physician observed some unique traits or has something else to add to your persona they can be useful.

Thanks in advance.
 
I'd go with just full name, college, major, minor.

The Dean of Admissions at my school harps on the idea that rehashing things about you that are in other sections of the application (GPA, other activities) do not add information we don't already have. "Tell we something I don't know. Tell me what you observed about the applicant."
I respectfully disagree. Those three things give the doctor virtually nothing. 2 doctors from whom I received LORS also requested information, so I wrote a page long biography about myself, and I'm pretty sure they were strong. (My university doesn't allow students to look at their letters.) But, I was admitted to my top choice so...:rolleyes:
 
I respectfully disagree. Those three things give the doctor virtually nothing. 2 doctors from whom I received LORS also requested information, so I wrote a page long biography about myself, and I'm pretty sure they were strong. (My university doesn't allow students to look at their letters.) But, I was admitted to my top choice so...:rolleyes:

I think @LizzyM is implying that shadowing letters are meaningless because there's nothing useful a doctor can provide you just by observing them (for the most part).
 
I think @LizzyM is implying that shadowing letters are meaningless because there's nothing useful a doctor can provide you just by observing them (for the most part).
I don't think she was implying they are meaningless; some schools REQUIRE non academic letters.. so they are very meaningful
 
The Dean of Admissions at my school harps on the idea that rehashing things about you that are in other sections of the application (GPA, other activities) do not add information we don't already have. "Tell we something I don't know. Tell me what you observed about the applicant."

I don't think she was implying they are meaningless; some schools REQUIRE non academic letters.. so they are very meaningful

From what was mentioned, if the physician can only provide info that is obtained from a resume (essentially AMCAS in this case), then the letter is useless. This is true for most shadowing letters. The only exception is if you collaborated with the physician on some event (i.e. research, outreach etc.), then they can address additional qualities of the applicant not covered in AMCAS.
 
From what was mentioned, if the physician can only provide info that is obtained from a resume (essentially AMCAS in this case), then the letter is useless. This is true for most shadowing letters. The only exception is if you collaborated with the physician on some event (i.e. research, outreach etc.), then they can address additional qualities of the applicant not covered in AMCAS.
You think that the impression that the doctor has of the student in a professional healthcare environment is useless? You have horrible comprehension skills if you think that LizzyM implied that.
 
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You think that the impression that the doctor has of the student in a professional healthcare environment is useless? You have horrible comprehension skills if you think that LizzyM implied that.

Nice strawman argument there. Read carefully what I wrote and get back to me.
 
I respectfully disagree. Those three things give the doctor virtually nothing. 2 doctors from whom I received LORS also requested information, so I wrote a page long biography about myself, and I'm pretty sure they were strong. (My university doesn't allow students to look at their letters.) But, I was admitted to my top choice so...:rolleyes:

So what do you recommend? I told him I'll give him my PS but he repeated he still wanted those few points as an intro for his letter...

I just want to make sure I give the right info and what will be most helpful for the letter as a whole. Sorry for being too specific.
 
So what do you recommend? I told him I'll give him my PS but he repeated he still wanted those few points as an intro for his letter...

I just want to make sure I give the right info and what will be most helpful for the letter as a whole. Sorry for being too specific.
I'd go with just full name, college, major, minor.

The Dean of Admissions at my school harps on the idea that rehashing things about you that are in other sections of the application (GPA, other activities) do not add information we don't already have. "Tell we something I don't know. Tell me what you observed about the applicant."

I'd just follow what LizzyM stated.
 
Just give him a CV or resume.
 
You think that the impression that the doctor has of the student in a professional healthcare environment is useless? You have horrible comprehension skills if you think that LizzyM implied that.

It's not the content in this thread. It's posts in multiple other threads by multiple adcoms that suggest the letters are of little utility. Evidently they tend to be overly positive and written after so few hours of such limited interaction that they often just don't add much . . . that said, I'm sure that means any negative content stands out glaringly, so a bad LOR may have more weight than a good one.
 
What did the physician observe? Here's the sort of letter that might be helpful,
I am writing to offer my strong support of Bin Rushd as a candidate for admission to medical school. Bin is a senior at Great Scott University majoring in biomedical engineering. He contacted me because he was interested in shadowing a gastroenterologist and he shadowed me for several days in March 2014. He observed me in clinic, on hospital rounds and in our GI suite. He also had the opportunity to attend Medical Grand Rounds with me at St. Luke's Hospital.
Bin was prompt for every meeting, unfailing polite to my staff and patients, and curious about the instrumentation we use in gastroenterology. He asked good questions and had quite obviously did some homework between visits to learn more about what he was seeing. While he was hesitant at first, he quickly became comfortable interacting with patients in the office setting. He was very quick to pick up new knowledge and retain it.
I give Bin Rushd my wholehearted support for admissions to medical school.
Sincerely,
Ben Dover, MD

A not very helpful letter might look like this:

I am writing to offer my strong support to Bin Rushd as a candidate for admission to medical school. Bin is a senior at Great Scott University majoring in biomedical engineering. He has a 3.80 GPA and a 3.88 GPA in his major. He contacted me because he was interested in shadowing a gastroenterologist and he shadowed me for several days in March 2014.
Bin has been very involved in the American Cancer Society's Walk for Life having had a leadership position in his junior year and continuing as co-chair of his campus' efforts this year. He has been a member of the Great Scott University Marching Band and had the distinction of representing his school in the Tangerine Bowl last January. He has been a volunteer in the surgical waiting room of St. Luke's Hospital for almost two years and hopes to move to a position with greater patient contact next month.
Bin Rushd has worked hard to prepare a strong application and I give him my wholehearted support for admissions to medical school.
Sincerely,
Ben Dover, MD
 
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So what do you recommend? I told him I'll give him my PS but he repeated he still wanted those few points as an intro for his letter...

I just want to make sure I give the right info and what will be most helpful for the letter as a whole. Sorry for being too specific.


On top of the basic info/PS/resume, give 2-3 examples where you think you demonstrated any of the traits here while shadowing: https://www.aamc.org/download/332578/data/lettersguidelinesbrochure.pdf
And send the physician that link too!

It allows you to point out things you feel you did well and want emphasized, and your LOR writer can choose to use them or not.
 
Thanks everyone for your help.

Turayza, thanks for that link! That'll help.

I have another question: I know the minimum is 2 science letters and 1 non-science. I will have those and this physician letter, do you guys recommend acquiring another letter from a certain EC/activity that I've done? I've heard it's not necessarily better the more letters you include in your app, and perhaps ADCOMS don't want to spend all day reading multiple LORs for each applicant...thoughts?
 
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