* * 2010 - 2011 * * Letter of Recommendation Thread

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Hm. Do you have any other choices?

If I was in your shoes, I would do my best to not write my own rec letter. I think that my personal mark on the letter would be too obvious. In other words, I agree with ManUnderFire.

I've actually seen one of my LORs after application season ended. It was different from what I would've expected.

In my opinion, the fact that you're being asked to write your own LOR indicates that the writer isn't willing to put in the time and effort for one of two reasons:
1) They're busy. This is very possible.
2) They don't really care. This is also possible.
As a result, I highly doubt that they'll spend much effort checking the LOR you wrote. They'll probably skim it once to make sure that it doesn't look like a 10 year old wrote it, sign it, and mail it. I wouldn't count on them making sure that the LOR is something they'd be proud to sign.
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Dude do not give up the opportunity!! Even if u have to wrote ur own letter then do that and get her signature. THEN if u wanna seek other avenues then go for it and ask another DO for another letter. It's not like ur only allowed to submit one. But don't give this one up because you never know hat may happen in the future and worst case scenario u can at least have a DO letter in ur hands.

That's my 10 cents...my 2 cents r free
 
Skippygonenuts said:
Schools recommend u send them with the secondary because they don't want to file papers if u don't have a chance of getting in. But if you feel that ur competitive and will get a secondary then send them in whenever u have them in hand. That way it will take two days for the letters to get to them with snail mail and another 2-5 days by the time they get through all their paper work and finally put ur letters on file.

I remember some schools didn't have my letters on file even 3 weeks after I mailed them over because of all the paperwork
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My premed advisor used virtua evals and I want to request her all my schools as one request. That way I do not have to ask her everytime I send a secondary to send the LORs.
 
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Cheshyre said:
Hm. Do you have any other choices?

If I was in your shoes, I would do my best to not write my own rec letter. I think that my personal mark on the letter would be too obvious. In other words, I agree with ManUnderFire.

I've actually seen one of my LORs after application season ended. It was different from what I would've expected.

In my opinion, the fact that you're being asked to write your own LOR indicates that the writer isn't willing to put in the time and effort for one of two reasons:
1) They're busy. This is very possible.
2) They don't really care. This is also possible.
As a result, I highly doubt that they'll spend much effort checking the LOR you wrote. They'll probably skim it once to make sure that it doesn't look like a 10 year old wrote it, sign it, and mail it. I wouldn't count on them making sure that the LOR is something they'd be proud to sign.
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I'm going to go ahead and agree with this. I'd try my best not to write it. I actually had a similar situation where the course instructor's policy was to have the student write the letter, add some small things of his own/edit and then send it out. My writing style is very obvious and i felt that it would jeopardize my application if a letter came off as my own words. Instead, I had a peer who had taken courses with me before and was a TA for the course write it for me and then submit it to the professor.

Is there an RN or peer that would be able to write you a "glowing" letter? I feel it is best to keep your writing style far far far from your letters of rec. In this situation, I would try to have a coworker or nurse who is familiar with letters write one and then have the doctor sign and send it in. That said, if thats not an option and this is your only opportunity to get a DO letter, try to have someone else revise the letter before you send it out and when they revise have them rephrase things.
 
can't you just have the profs mail their finished letters back to you (or pick it up from there signed and everything) and then you organize them for each school and mail them out yourself? It seems a lot cheaper than using interfolio (how much is it)?, but i may be wrong.....what do most of the DO schools prefer?
 
Have a friend, parent, etc who is a strong writer and knows and likes you a lot, write the letter. Edit it. Then Have the Doc sign it. :)
 
redrumi said:
Have a friend, parent, etc who is a strong writer and knows and likes you a lot, write the letter. Edit it. Then Have the Doc sign it. :)
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:mad: Hey you stole my idea but made it more concise not fair lol jk
 
Something to the effect of, "He makes me proud to be a doctor, and he's not too hard on the eyes either. ;)"
 
DbDan said:
I'm going to go ahead and agree with this. I'd try my best not to write it. I actually had a similar situation where the course instructor's policy was to have the student write the letter, add some small things of his own/edit and then send it out. My writing style is very obvious and i felt that it would jeopardize my application if a letter came off as my own words. Instead, I had a peer who had taken courses with me before and was a TA for the course write it for me and then submit it to the professor.

Is there an RN or peer that would be able to write you a "glowing" letter? I feel it is best to keep your writing style far far far from your letters of rec. In this situation, I would try to have a coworker or nurse who is familiar with letters write one and then have the doctor sign and send it in. That said, if thats not an option and this is your only opportunity to get a DO letter, try to have someone else revise the letter before you send it out and when they revise have them rephrase things.
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+1!!

I know good advice when I see it. And that's dam good advice.

Good luck
 
So off-shoot question. I have two MD letters of recommendations - one a former employee and the other my mentor for a research project. Neither of these doctors have seen me interact with patients. I know almost all DO schools want a physician recommendation so is a research/employer MD LOR sufficient? or do they want a LOR for clinical/patient interaction (I know DMU does but does every school want this?). Thanks.
 
I would advise to use Interfolio, its not that expensive and defiantly worth the price. Makes the burden of sending LOR to multiple schools and makes it very easy!
 
Avoidthetiger said:
So off-shoot question. I have two MD letters of recommendations - one a former employee and the other my mentor for a research project. Neither of these doctors have seen me interact with patients. I know almost all DO schools want a physician recommendation so is a research/employer MD LOR sufficient? or do they want a LOR for clinical/patient interaction (I know DMU does but does every school want this?). Thanks.
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The only schools requiring a physician LOR are osteopathic medical schools, and they recommend or require a DO letter. I think the belief here is that they want to know you understand some osteopathic principles.
 
Longshanks said:
The only schools requiring a physician LOR are osteopathic medical schools, and they recommend or require a DO letter. I think the belief here is that they want to know you understand some osteopathic principles.
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I apologize if my above statement was confusing.

For the DO schools requiring a physician LOR (either DO/MD), is a research mentor and/or employeer letter acceptable? Both of them are MDs.

I think I am asking the advise of SDN if the physician LOR are suppose to be clinical letters (and how you interact with patients) OR if any letter from an MD will suffice.

I do not plan on having a DO letter of recommendation for my application (I might but not sure yet). I will not be applying to schools requiring an DO letter or requiring a clinical/shadowing recommendation. Thanks
 
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Darkskies said:
Hi everyone,
I was somewhat confused about the number of letters of recommendation I should ideally have for medical schools. It appears that for the vast majority of schools if one has a pre-med committee letter that is all that is absolutely required. I understand that most undergraduate institutions need prospective medical school applicants to submit three LORs in order for the committee to write them a recommendation. My school on the other hand does not require any outside LORs from professors for the committee to write a recommendation. I was wondering whether I should get extra LORs from professors in any case in addition to my committee letter. If so, should I still get two letters from science professors and 1 from a non-science professor? Thanks in advance,
Darkskies
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I'm confused about the same thing, if anyone has any ideas. I have my committee letter and 1 science professor letter but I'm not sure if I need to get another science and a non-science. I'm worried that the other 2 letters will take too long to be written, so if they are not ABSOLUTELY necessary I might submit my secondaries without them. Is this a bad idea?
 
So, will it really hurt my chances getting a letter of rec from an MD if I apply to a school that strongly recommends getting a DO letter but accepts both? I feel the MD I am asking would write a nice letter in my defense...Should I try to get a DO letter instead? THANKS~
 
Hey guys, I've done some research and keep getting mixed answers. So just wondering what the general thought is on here. Is it alright to have a LOR from a community college professor?
 
I don't see why not, I mean if they're a phD, they're a phD, who cares if they chose to teach at a CC, i'm sure if they wanted a lot of them could get a job at a university,
 
Hey everyone. I just joined this fantastic forum. I'm working on the applications right now, as many of you are.

My question, that I desperately need help with is shadowing a D.O., to eventually get a LOR. I tried the AOA's mentor website, and tried requesting 10 different 'mentors' but still haven't heard anything from any of them.

Also, I've tried getting in touch with a few different DO's by calling their office and explaining that I would like to shadow the doctor. Haven't been successful that way either.

For those of you that don't know a doctor personally, what worked for you to get a LOR from a DO? Any advice on what to say when you call their office?
 
I might have been lucky seeing as there are only 4 DO's in my smaller town. One is a psychiatrist who wouldn't allow any shadowing. Another is a gynecologist who I actually didn't check with because I figured she wouldn't allow it. The third was a pulmonologist who works one-week-on-one-week-off at the hospital, so she was too busy. The last is a neurosurgeon.

I called and then sent letters to the pulmonologist and neurosurgeon and also stopped by to drop off my resume and a cover letter with their secretaries. After that, I called back 4 days later to see if there were any updates. The pulm. said she was too busy, but I got to shadow the neurosurgeon and he turned out to be fantastic. It was also great that the neurosurgeon is also an associate professor at a med school so he was much more accepting to students. Even though I already got my letter months ago, I'm still shadowing him, he's great and I'm learning a ton. Other people in town who needed to shadow a DO had to go a couple towns over to find one.

So I guess the main takeaway is go up there and get in their face. They're much more likely to say yes when it's not an e-mail or phone call they can ignore. And keep trying back to remind them that you're serious. I even kind of laid a guilt trip in my cover letter, saying something along the lines of that I really wanted to be a DO and a DO letter is required for entrance in to DO school and that there aren't many DO's in town so I'd be eternally grateful, etc...

Good luck
 
He said it.

My DO was also my FP doc so it was easy for me. But from stories ice heard from other ppl, they have had similar experiences a Bigboosting. Afterall, these are doctors...they are busy people. Many don't have time for extracurricular activities unless they feel that your very serious about this and won't be wasting their time or your own.

They have been through this too...they had to shadow a DO to get into med school..deep down, they wanna spread the love..you just gotta give em a reason to.

Good luck
 
I created a one page sheet that essentially was a mini personal statement, explaining my schooling, languages, med experience, and my interest in osteopathic medicine. I also said I would be forever thankful for the opportunity and would be willing to shadow any hours, then personalized each one "I am interested in specialty blahblah" to the respective doc.

I landed up with a day long shadow with one FP, he was super cool and I sent him my aacomas app (grades and personal) and a link to interfolio and asked him nicely if he could write a LOR, even though we didn't spend a lot of time together he could read up on me, a bit like a CV. I also am still shadowing an ER doc who I got with this method.

Overall, it's a crapshoot, but I agree with above posters and just follow up with your letters.
 
I'm preparing to shadow my first 2 DO's this summer. I'm taking the MCAT in April 2011 and applying to AACOMAS May 2011.

How do I handle the LOR process with my application date still being so far away? I plan to shadow them for a few months but I don't know if it will be all the way until May 2011.

Do I wait to request the letters?

Thanks!
 
Before I begin, I am not applying this cycle, but next spring.

Summer classes are wrapping up and so far I've done really well in my courses, and I think well enough to ask professors for letters of recommendation. However, after reviewing most DO schools' letter policies, it seems like professor letters are fairly unimportant if you have a pre-med committee letter.

If I am practically guaranteed a committee letter and I plan on getting a DO recommendation letter, do you suggest that I go through the hoops of getting a prof. to write a letter for me even though I will likely not use it?

Also, what is the general consensus of handling letters? I can have my pre-med advisor keep a file for me at school which I don't have access to. Should I just forward all letters to her and when the time comes, just have her make copies for every school I apply to?
 
DOwnage said:
Before I begin, I am not applying this cycle, but next spring.

Summer classes are wrapping up and so far I've done really well in my courses, and I think well enough to ask professors for letters of recommendation. However, after reviewing most DO schools' letter policies, it seems like professor letters are fairly unimportant if you have a pre-med committee letter.

If I am practically guaranteed a committee letter and I plan on getting a DO recommendation letter, do you suggest that I go through the hoops of getting a prof. to write a letter for me even though I will likely not use it?

Also, what is the general consensus of handling letters? I can have my pre-med advisor keep a file for me at school which I don't have access to. Should I just forward all letters to her and when the time comes, just have her make copies for every school I apply to?
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The committee that handles these letters doesn't require any letters of recommendation from Professors? At my school, they require them, put them all together in a packet, and then add a committee letter to it.
 
No I don't need to accumulate letters prior to the actual committee letter, I speak with the committee and they write one for me
 
DOwnage said:
No I don't need to accumulate letters prior to the actual committee letter, I speak with the committee and they write one for me
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I don't know if there's any way around having to obtain recommendation letters from professors. My school's committee is similar to yours in that they don't require professor letters for you to qualify for a committee letter. However, I found out after submitting my application and interview that I'll still need letters from professors separately in addition to the committee letter that they will be writing. Check with your committee first to see if it's the same case in your situation.
 
Darkskies said:
I don't know if there's any way around having to obtain recommendation letters from professors. My school's committee is similar to yours in that they don't require professor letters for you to qualify for a committee letter. However, I found out after submitting my application and interview that I'll still need letters from professors separately in addition to the committee letter that they will be writing. Check with your committee first to see if it's the same case in your situation.
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I was told that my committee is made up of some professors and that they would basically team-write the letter. Is that similar to yours at all?
 
So I am turning in my primary AMCAS today and have not assigned letters. Most of my letters will not be ready till secondaries come in, but some may. Where should I tell my contacts to send the LORs if some come in before secondaries arrive? Thanks!
 
Do you guys think a Research PI letter would suffice as one of the hard science LORs?

I have Physiology professor, DO, internship director (EC) , and physical anthro professor (this is under science on AACOMAS but I have a feeling they might count this for non science).

What do you guys think?
 
Try to get well written letters from 3rd yr.Letters which are well written and detail make a difference.
 
Mzeep said:
Do you guys think a Research PI letter would suffice as one of the hard science LORs?

I have Physiology professor, DO, internship director (EC) , and physical anthro professor (this is under science on AACOMAS but I have a feeling they might count this for non science).

What do you guys think?
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No, unfortunately I think you'll need to get it from one of the hard sciences - biology, physics, chem.
 
Mzeep said:
Do you guys think a Research PI letter would suffice as one of the hard science LORs?

I have Physiology professor, DO, internship director (EC) , and physical anthro professor (this is under science on AACOMAS but I have a feeling they might count this for non science).

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Normally it needs to be a BCPM or instructor whose course you took for credit. If you did a 199 or whatever the equivalent is at UCI where you get credit for your research you may be able to get away with it. I'd recommend trying to get another hard science letter though if possible
 
Gnocchi Monster said:
So I am turning in my primary AMCAS today and have not assigned letters. Most of my letters will not be ready till secondaries come in, but some may. Where should I tell my contacts to send the LORs if some come in before secondaries arrive? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Why not make it easy on yourself and use interfolio? Have all of your letter writers electronically submit there and then send all of your letters from interfolio to AMCAS. That way you would also have your letters ready to be sent to DO schools as well.
 
seap3 said:
No, unfortunately I think you'll need to get it from one of the hard sciences - biology, physics, chem.
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DbDan said:
Normally it needs to be a BCPM or instructor whose course you took for credit. If you did a 199 or whatever the equivalent is at UCI where you get credit for your research you may be able to get away with it. I'd recommend trying to get another hard science letter though if possible
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Yeah that's what I figured. I did get Bio 199 units for it though.

Guess I've got some work to do! Thanks for the feedback!
 
Mzeep said:
Yeah that's what I figured. I did get Bio 199 units for it though.

Guess I've got some work to do! Thanks for the feedback!
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Some schools will accept it as a science letter if you got Bio 199 for it. Call the schools and check with them.
 
D.O. schools are medical schools. As long as she doesn't specify MD, I think you're fine.

Even if she did get them mixed up, I'm sure they won't throw out your application. But I'm going through the same process as you are so I don't know for sure
 
crazynate said:
D.O. schools are medical schools.
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This.


I think you are probably worrying way too much. My only concern is that you think osteopathic medical schools are not real medical schools. Osteopathic school would be something different. There are people who are osteopaths, but not physicians.
 
I have a question and I can't find the answer anywhere. So I've read that once we submit the LORs to school we cannot make changes. I'm thinking this means once they're sent we can't remove any of them, but can we send additional ones? For example right now I have 3 LORs in so far but expect another one. Can I designate the 3 I have to school X and re-submit my app, then when the last one arrives I designate it to school X once again? Or do I have to designate all 4 right now even if one is not in yet?? Thanks!
 
StarryNights said:
I have a question and I can't find the answer anywhere. So I've read that once we submit the LORs to school we cannot make changes. I'm thinking this means once they're sent we can't remove any of them, but can we send additional ones? For example right now I have 3 LORs in so far but expect another one. Can I designate the 3 I have to school X and re-submit my app, then when the last one arrives I designate it to school X once again? Or do I have to designate all 4 right now even if one is not in yet?? Thanks!
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No, you can send them in separately. I've sent in my science letters already, but I'm still waiting on my DO letter.

You can't take them back though. :)
 
Yikes! I just got the email from Interfolio that they received one of my letters from a prof, and it is 3 pages!! I don't know whether that's good or bad. What on earth could he have said for 3 pages? :laugh:

All my others say they are only 1 page.
 
Hey!

Is the order fixed in the way that you added them to AMCAS? Is there a way to reorder the letters to schools once I assign them?
 
Thanks for the information, I appreciate it.
 
Yes its ok. The letter has to be good. Also get one from a DO. that helps a lot
 
At my undergrad school, we needed 5 LOR's from professors for the pre health committee.. my question is will they attach all 5 letters along with the committee letter or just send the one composite letter? thanks!
 
Does anyone know how to send recommendation letters for DO schools? I know we directly send them to the schools, but do we need to send any other paperworks such as AMCOMAS ID number or anything along with them??

Thanks for help!
 
ni15 said:
Does anyone know how to send recommendation letters for DO schools? I know we directly send them to the schools, but do we need to send any other paperworks such as AMCOMAS ID number or anything along with them??

Thanks for help!
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the letters can be uploaded to virtualevals and then you can designate which schools will be able to access them. it is helpful if you have your letter writers put your AACOMAS ID on the letters...many schools request this but I don't think its absolutely necessary
 
I'm a little confused and hope that someone can help.

Do most schools read LORs after secondaries are submitted? or should I have submitted all LORs with my primaries already?
 
There is definitely no need to be concerned if your letters mention strictly medical school instead of osteopathic medical schools specifically. In my opinion, it's not really that necessary for your letter writers to address your particular qualifications for osteopathic schools over allopathic schools. That's more something for you to address in your personal statement. I do recall my DO letter writer addressed it somewhat though. He did ultimately give me two copies with one saying "medical school" and one saying "osteopathic medical school" without me asking him to, just in case I was applying to MD schools. I really don't think it matters though :)
 
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