A little advice please.

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La Presse

Due to the fact....
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Ok. I know there are dozens of threads on this, but I just wanted to get this out of the way. Currently, I am in the process of getting letter for SURF and med school. Unfortunately, EVERYONE I ask wants me to write my own letter, including the physician I have shadowed. If I include the people who are serving as references for my SURF, I have about 7-10 letter to write. Most of my letters will be generic, tailored to the programs I am applying to.

Besides a typical outline of

+ How i know them
+ How I am qualified
+ What I could contribute

How do I make my letters relatively stronger? I am already stressing..
 
Ok. I know there are dozens of threads on this, but I just wanted to get this out of the way. Currently, I am in the process of getting letter for SURF and med school. Unfortunately, EVERYONE I ask wants me to write my own letter, including the physician I have shadowed. If I include the people who are serving as references for my SURF, I have about 7-10 letter to write. Most of my letters will be generic, tailored to the programs I am applying to.

Besides a typical outline of

+ How i know them
+ How I am qualified
+ What I could contribute

How do I make my letters relatively stronger? I am already stressing..

Why are you getting/writing med school letters now if you are not even applying for 2-3 years?

Also, if you write 7-10 letters they are all going to know cause they will all have the same writing style, and if you try to change, it will sound forced. I would start looking for other people to actually write a letter and not just sign off on something you wrote about yourself.


FWIW: LizzyM once wrote this:
These letters follow a formula:

First sentence states that one is pleased to write a letter of recommendation for [individual's name]. Obviously, it is important to have your name at the top of the body of the letter. The rest of the paragraph describes how long the writer has known you, the circumstances under which you first met, and whatever interactions you've had. (e.g. that he was your professor and later you served as a teaching assistant or lab assistant). If you've had continued contact after your regular meetings ended, that gets mentioned too (some people stay in touch for years with an advisor or mentor).

The next paragraph describes the activities in which you engaged as observed by the writer. Some writers will go on & on about what they cover in a course or the type of research they do in the lab. Some writers will cover how the applicant did grade-wise with quizes, tests, assignments or how much the applicant participated in class discussion or the topic and quality of a big written assignment or class presentation.

[Optional: a paragraph describing other activities that the writer knows of - because you told him - but that he didn't observe himself. It might open by saying that the applicant has been active on or off campus, etc, etc., or has been drivien in preparing for admission to med school (that's not too flattering if taken the wrong way) or something along those lines).]

The next paragraph covers a subjective assessment of the applicant's personal characteristics.

The final paragraph is a closing stating that the writer supports the applicant's application to medical school and usually says something nice about wishing that they were going into graduate school but they are well suited for medicine or that the writer would be happy to have the applicant as a doctor some day. Most end with something saying if you wish to speak to me you may call 000 000 0000.

And this piece of gold:
I'm looking at the middle paragraphs of the letter that describe the activities that the applicant engaged in and the characteristics that they demonstrated. The major thing I look for in the closing paragraph is how strong the summary is. We have "I strongly recommend" "I very strongly recommend" "I most strongly recomment" "I give my highest recommendation". Unless you know the code, you woudn't know that "strongly" is the weakest recommendation for that writer and "my highest" is the best. We also have some who will say that someone is within the top 1/3 or top 1/4 or top 5% or top 2% of all undergrads that the professor has had in class over the past 5, 10, 40 years at X University.

Whether the last sentence refers to medical school or something else is of less importance although if I pick up on something odd I might ask about it in interview (such as recommending the applicant for dental school).

And I believe someone, somewhere, once said listing the LOR writer's phone number at the end and saying feel free to call me, indicates there is something "wrong" with the applicant that they were not comfortable wiring in the LOR.
 
DAPI

I am trying to get my med school letters, not concurrently with my SURF letter, but shortly after the SURF programs (assuming I attend). To answer your second question, I am trying to get letters for medical school because my writers are notoriously slow. However, to have their names on the bottom of a letter is powerful. They are well-known and dynamic people.

I guess I will try to find a few others.
 
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