Originally posted by Slickness
I think it definitely helps. I thought the whole point of getting an LOR is for it to be glowing. I mean an MD/DO would be an actual clinician working in the field where you want to eventually work at. It makes sense that a physician would be better able to see if you would make a good doctor than a PhD who does mostly teaching.
I disagree...
A LOR will not help you just because the person writing it has an MD or a DO or a PhD. If all you did was shadow an MD I doubt the letter written by that physician will carry much weight. However, if you helped organize a blood drive or were given the responsibility of taking vitals and checking patients in for an MD and that MD wrote you a LOR then it would probably be a lot better than a LOR written about you shadowing.
The same goes for a LOR from a PhD...Just because the LOR is from a PhD doesn't demonstrate that you have the qualities of a great scientist if all the professor can write about is that you washed test tubes in his or her lab. However, if you had a paper published or presented several posters for a PhD then the LOR would carry a lot more weight.
IMO its not the the MD/DO/PhD or whatever degree that will make a LOR good...It is the content of the letter that will carry weight. Yes, try to get someone with an MD/PhD/DO/etc. to write you a LOR but also keep in mind that their degrees aren't what will make your LOR good. You, your accomplishments, and the LOR writer's familiarity with those accomplishments is going to make your LOR strong.
I'd say a LOR from the coordinator of a homeless shelter where you have worked will be a lot stronger and say a lot more about you than a letter from an MD whom you shadowed for a month. Why? because at the homeless shelter you probably showed a lot more initiative and had a lot more responsibilities than you had shadowing a physician. At the homeless shelter YOU are interacting with the homeless, you are an active participant in the daily grind of the shelter whereas shadowing a physician makes you only a passive observer. Being a passive observer doesn't say a lot about you.
The point is....Just make sure that the LOR writers you select can each highlight a different aspect of what makes you a unique and strong candidate for medical school and also have the credibility to do so regardless of what their degree is. (For example...a letter from your grandpa talking about the toiletry drive you setup obviously won't have much credibility. But a LOR from the director of the homeless shelter(where your toiletries went to) about your toiletry drive will.)
Like I said earlier...only 2 of my 5 LORs were from people that had PhD's. The other 3 were from coordinators/directors of various volunteer programs I had been involved with. I also had one of those letters co-signed by all the directors in one of the programs.
LORs are all about the credibility of the writers and the content and description of you and your accomplishments. The fancy degree has nothing to do with it.
