Advice on obtaining Letters of Recommendation?

[burnitup1]

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So I was pretty shy as an undergrad, and I am having trouble trying to email professors for LORs. I graduated in May 2011 with a degree in psychology, so I feel like I am much closer to my professors in psychology, and only got to know one professor of science. The problem is, most schools ask for LORs from 2 science professors and 1 non science professor. I feel like since I did my honors research project in psychology, only my psychology professor will write a strong LOR.

As for the sciences, my science GPA is only a 3.43 - so needless to say, I did not receive many A's. I did organic chemistry research with my Orgo I professor for only a semester (I quit to focus on psych research for two years). This the only science professor whom I believe can write me a good recommendation.

I never got close to other professors, but I tried sitting in the front, asking questions and visiting during office hours for a couple of them. Should I email them anyway and try to get them to remember me? For the past year and a half, I have been working at a job in an unrelated field, and have not been back to my alma mater since graduation, so I'm pretty nervous about asking these professors for a letter. I don't even think they would remember my name.

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated - I value each and every one of your opinions so highly and cannot thank you enough for helping me out!

P.S. - I'm taking the MCAT in January and applying for the 2014 cycle! Would it be better if I waited until I got my MCAT score back and then email the professors to show them my dedication to medicine?

 

[eefen]

Even though schools say they want 2 science and 1 nonscience LOR, if you have a good reason as to why you cannot provide a good required letter (i.e. being out of school for an extended period of time), they will typically be OK with that. If I were in your shoes, I would try and get the psych PI and the orgo PI to write me a letter, and then try to get one or two good letters from managers at work. Where do you work?

I was in a situation where I could not get a nonscience letter, as the school, that I had taken nonscience classes at was a few years in my past and in another state. Most schools were fine with this, including the school that I will ultimately be matriculating at. There was only one school that said "No, you need all of the letters or you can't apply here" (albeit very nicely), so I just didn't apply there. 🙄

Edit: Regarding the MCAT thing... you will want to notify your writers of your request by at least March or so (that gives them three months, and allows you to submit early--which you will want to do. Read through the Panic Thread for this year if you don't believe me...). You should have your score back by then, but I would only mention it if it's good.

 

[burnitup1]

@eefen - wow, they actually let you get by without the second science letter? Could you possibly tell me how to contact those specific schools? Did you call them or email them? I could definitely try to ask a manager at work, but I work at a marketing/information systems company in graphic design so they have no idea what med school is about. I am only working here because my parents do not work and we have to support a family of 5 (and this job pays more than research, sadly). I'd actually love to ask the ask the volunteer coordinator at the hospital I volunteer at - been there for over a year and I'm pretty sure they love me. Would a letter from clinical volunteering instead of a science prof be alright?

I just really want to know which schools are somewhat "less strict" about getting exactly 2 science prof LORs! When I took a tour of my alma mater's med school (UIC), they seemed to be pretty adamant on 2 science profs....

 

[eefen]

I emailed them. I sent emails out to the schools in question around March when I was gathering LORs just to confirm that it was OK, and then again after I applied just to remind them (and to reference their previous responses stating that it was fine). Just explain your circumstances, and what kinds of letters you can offer in place of those.

With regards to your hospital volunteer manager, I would definitely try to get a letter from him/her. In my situation, though I could not provide a nonsci letter, I had letters from other sources (work) to replace those. The whole idea is just to get an idea of who you are from another person's perspective...so get as many as you can (up to six or so). You don't have to use them all for every school, but it's better to have plenty then not enough. I usually had a "set" of letters I would send to each school, and a few "extras" I would throw in if the school didn't limit the number of letters...but never more than six.

As far as your manager goes, you can just explain to them the process and what would be nice to have in a LOR for medical school, and/or ask them to speak particularly to those qualities that would make you a good physician.

 

[aspiring20]

OP, does your undergrad offer a committee letter? if they do, i believe that all other letter requirements will be automatically waived because a committee letter will satisfy all letter requirements from most schools.

if not, then it would be wise to contact the med schools you are interested in and ask them about this issue. based on what i've read on this forum, many med schools are quite leninent on who writes your letters. however, some schools are extremely rigid in their letter requirement, which means you absolutely have to have 2 science, 1 nonscience or whatever they require. I think NYMC is one of these schools.

good luck!