I will be applying for the upcoming 2011 cycle and have begun to solicit letters of recommendation. My question is this (a little background info first). My first two years of school were poor acadmically. I was a business major and I was playing football at a small school and put a lot of effort towards football and not school. After my first two years I transfered to my state school and have done great since then. I am wondering if it would be beneficial to ask my position coach to write me a letter of recomendation so that schools will see that I wasnt just screwing off for two years and that instead I had imbalanced priorities.
Additional Letter of recommendation?
- Thread starter Elmnt
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In my opinion this probably wont pay off as much as you would like it to. LORs are written with a certain style, a style that many professors and physicians are familiar with. Unfortunately, your position coach will probably not be able to duplicate this style, and the letter will appear weaker compared to your academic letters.
I would suggest explaining this issue in your personal statement, if you think it needs an explanation.
I had a non-professor / non-physician (a supervisor from previous healthcare employment) write me a letter of recommendation. It was a nice letter, but nowhere near the quality of the other letters. Fortunately, I was able to read this letter ahead of time and decided not to forward in to programs. Remember, 3 great letters + 1 weak letter is not better than 3 great letters alone.
-senior medical student / admissions committee interviewer.
I would suggest explaining this issue in your personal statement, if you think it needs an explanation.
I had a non-professor / non-physician (a supervisor from previous healthcare employment) write me a letter of recommendation. It was a nice letter, but nowhere near the quality of the other letters. Fortunately, I was able to read this letter ahead of time and decided not to forward in to programs. Remember, 3 great letters + 1 weak letter is not better than 3 great letters alone.
-senior medical student / admissions committee interviewer.
Thank you for your objective advice. I actually asked him about it before I got opinions on here and he said I should write the letter and he would revise it and sign it. Since he was willing I think I will write it (just because he said he would help) but I don't think I will use it. I think I will be drawing too much attention to something that only needs a brief explanation. Thanks again!
