Writing your own letter of recommendation

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lsutiger

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I have recently been offered the unique opportunity to write my own letter of recommendation. A Doctor that I shadowed for the summer said he would write it but he doesn't have the time. He said I could write it and he would have his secretary type it up and he would sign it. I do not even know where to begin writing this letter. Any suggestions on what I should include in this letter?

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While it is an indeed a unique opportunity where you can fill the letter proclaiming your own genius and hardwork, depending on the doctor, they have many more years of experience with writing an eye-grabbing letter and being able to ably communicate what makes you special to the admissions board.

But then again, a doctor who tells you to write your own because he has no time probably wouldn't write you a good one if your forced him to.
 
Quick question to the OP. If you did write this rec., would you still be allowed to say it was "confidential"? I realize that that might be a stupid question, but I was wondering how you would handle that.

Thanks,

-Ice
 
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A confidential letter of recommendation is one that you have waived the right to view. In the event that you end up wanting to see it, any request _without the approved consent of the letter-writer_ should not be honored--just like your medical, student, and criminal records are confidential until you sign a permission form that grants others access.

My guess is that even though the OP might write the letter himself or herself, the moment they hand the letter over to the doctor the doctor could theoretically make changes to the letter. I would think that given this possibility that changes could be made, you could waive your right to the letter once it leaves your hands, making it confidential.

Again, confidential doesn't mean you can't ever see it; confidential just means you need someone's permission to see it.

--rager1
 
Confidential or not confidential, still the main point is to make sure that the letter sounds like a doctor wrote it in evaluation of a student he/she had known for a limited amount of time. I have known people that wrote their own LOC and then had an evaluator sign it and the letters ended up sounding a bit cheesy and did not leave an impression that a doctor wrote it. My advice to the OP in writting this letter would be not to make it too long. If I am assuming correctly, this doctor didn't know you very well nor did he know you for a long time. Therefore, a LOC from a person with whom you have had this type of relationship will usually be very much direct and "to the point". This type of letter would probably point out a couple of positive characteristics that the student exemplified and maybe even describe a certain event in which these characteristics were displayed for all to see. This type of letter would probably have its share of big words while discribing the student but not too many and they would be used as if the writer didn't even realize that he/she was using them. This type of letter would probably be no more than 1/2 page long.

Basically, if you're writting a letter like this, try not to make yourself sound like you are the best pre-med student alive and that there is no reason why medical school adcoms not accept you into their medical school because you will cure cancer one day.

Have fun.

dmitri
 
Two things:

1) The first is me being anal retentive: I think I made a mistake. Criminal records might be public. See my earlier post.

2) To the OP: If you have the opportunity to write your own recommendation, try and do so within the context that this physician knows you. Obviously any anecdotes related in this letter (if any) would need to be from an experience that the two of you could reasonably have shared. I would also try and think of things unlikely to be mentioned in other LORs. I'm sure we can all think of things we're proud of that, if we were to write about them in our Personal Statements, would make us come across as a little inflated. But those same things written from a 3rd-person POV can come across as insightful and very positive.

Remember that this doctor will read the letter you wrote and decide if what it says could serve as his own words. When the doctor signs it, the signature is an endorsement that everything in the letter is consistent with his opinion, making the letter his message about you.

If you're unsure of how to go about it (because I know I'd be nervous as hell writing my own recommendation ;) ) here's the advice I'd try and follow myself:

You may want to draft up the letter and email it to them to get their opinion and to minimize the number of unexpected changes after you hand the letter over to the secretary. Or even better, take two hard copies of the draft to the doctor's office and go over the letter, asking if you could add this or add that and getting feedback on those sections you were somewhat uncomfortable about. Be forthcoming about the sort of comments you think would most strengthen your application (i.e., comments about intelligence, or easy relationship with patients, outstanding research, noticeable compassion, great deal of concern for specific patient types or certain public health issues, opportunities in which you displayed integrity, sacrifices, commitment, etc... etc...)

You provided all the information about your official accomplishments and awards in your AMCAS. Let the LOR be about the unofficial awards--the recognition for those events and accomplishments in our lives that other people notice but for which there are no plaques or trophys.

Good Luck! :)

--rager1
 
Check out www.essayedge.com

they have a great page with 10 tips for recommendation letters that I found very helpful when I had to write a couple of my own LORs.
 
This is crap... don't listen to these guys. If you're given this golden opportunity then take full advantage of it. I was given this opportunity too & I was allowed to mail the letter myself. Don't brag about everything, but do highlight a couple exceptional qualities you see in yourself such as commitment or leadership and just say something like he's been the most dedicated student I've had the pleasure working with in 10 years, because I have seen good letters and they often include something like this that makes you outstanding.
 
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