A strong LOR from a B+ class or weak LOR from an A+ class?

[sshung]

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Which letter would be more convincing/useful to gain a medical school admission:

1. A letter from my upper division biology class where I got a B+ in the course. The professor knows me very well since I showed up to her office hour every week and we both came from a same foreign country. She was a former member of medical school admission committee. I was also informed that a letter with a B+ in the course would not win me any point from the admission committee.

2. A letter from my organic chemistry class where I got a A+. However, I never showed up to professor's office hour and he simply told me that all he could write on the letter is that I was a top 5% in the class and how hard the course was.


Which letter should I pick?

 

[SpartanWolverine]

I would go for the B+ course letter.

From what I know, it is much more important to have someone who can talk about you personally than someone who can ONLY say "X got an A+ in my class."... Plus, if she is a former admissions committee member, she should know exactly what to emphasize.

Admissions committees have your transcripts, and a letter just reiterating that you got an A+ in a course doesn't mean anything.

 

[FalconSlice]

Which letter would be more convincing/useful to gain a medical school admission:

1. A letter from my upper division biology class where I got a B+ in the course. The professor knows me very well since I showed up to her office hour every week and we both came from a same foreign country. She was a former member of medical school admission committee. I was also informed that a letter with a B+ in the course would not win me any point from the admission committee.

2. A letter from my organic chemistry class where I got a A+. However, I never showed up to professor's office hour and he simply told me that all he could write on the letter is that I was a top 5% in the class and how hard the course was.


Which letter should I pick?

Obviously the first one if you had to pick, I think

 

[occams_razor]

the B+ letter

 

[chillaxbro]

 

[FalconSlice]

@chillaxbro, the "A+" professor's LOR probably isn't worth the paper it would be printed on since it is obvious he/she knows little to nothing about the OP.

 

[neekzg]

hahaahahahaha perfect use of that image. I don't know why it always makes me laugh.

Was the B+ class exceptionally hard? What was the average/how many people/% got As? If it was a really hard class that barely anyone got an A in, maybe your professor can speak to the difficult of the course and that a B+ would be considered a great grade in that particular class. If that's the case, it seems like the B+ letter would be better. The way you speak of the letter you'd be getting from the A+ class seems like it would be very lackluster.

 

[deleted307836]

1. A letter from my upper division biology class where I got a B+ in the course. The professor knows me very well since I showed up to her office hour every week and we both came from a same foreign country. She was a former member of medical school admission committee. I was also informed that a letter with a B+ in the course would not win me any point from the admission committee.

Were you informed this by this very same professor? If not, I would say #1 would by far be the better option. If it was this same professor who said that this letter wouldn't win you any points because of your grade, I would question whether this would really be a strong LOR after all.

 

[1stmeds]

Which letter would be more convincing/useful to gain a medical school admission:

1. A letter from my upper division biology class where I got a B+ in the course. The professor knows me very well since I showed up to her office hour every week and we both came from a same foreign country. She was a former member of medical school admission committee. I was also informed that a letter with a B+ in the course would not win me any point from the admission committee.

2. A letter from my organic chemistry class where I got a A+. However, I never showed up to professor's office hour and he simply told me that all he could write on the letter is that I was a top 5% in the class and how hard the course was.


Which letter should I pick?

choice 1. this professor will be able to speak to your character, which the grades don't reveal. Also, I wouldn't believe what you heard about the letter from a B+ class.

choice 2 is redundant, in that your A+ already suggests you are among the top in the class, so your professor repeating this in the letter adds nothing of value. its therefore only as valuable as the paper its printed on.

 

[LiamNeesons]

You want the strongest letter possible. Don't worry about advertising the B+. Your GPA is on your application. The purpose of the letter is to reveal your character.

 

[SN12357]

Were you informed this by this very same professor? If not, I would say #1 would by far be the better option. If it was this same professor who said that this letter wouldn't win you any points because of your grade, I would question whether this would really be a strong LOR after all.

Yes, exactly this. If the professor herself is indicating she thinks she can't write a strong letter, take the hint.

If the comment about the B+ letter came from someone else, then I would go with #1.

 

[mvenus929]

If you believe that the B+ writer will actually write you a strong letter, then obviously take that one. Your letters are intended to speak about things that are not in your application, or emphasize things that might not seem that important.

 

[mimelim]

Both sound like weak letters. If you had to have one, the first one is the obvious choice. The second wouldn't be just weak, it would be bad.