Advice please!

[NMH2001]

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OK- I finally found a DO to shadow!!! Now-she is doing a session with a patient using OMT tomorrow and she invited me to come and watch.

I woul eventually like to get a letter of rec from her down the road, but how do I go about asking for this? How much have you guys shadowed before geting/asking for a letter of rec?

 

[DOtobe]

I would say at least a couple weeks...I lucked out when I needed a letter of rec from a DO - the DO I shadowed was one of my grandmother's doctors so I only had to shadow him one time before he wrote me a letter of recommendation. I would say that a couple weeks would be good, though, to give the doctor a chance to know you so the recommendation she would write wouldn't be a bunch of BS.
Just my suggestion!

 

[SexyEgptnDr]

What I did with my DO letter of rec is that I told the DO that I was interested in DO school but I would like to shadow one not only to have the experience, but for a letter of rec. Being up front with them is the best way...remember, at one point they had to ask for letters of rec...so, don't be scared. You can also ask them as a few weeks pass if there is anything that they would like to see you do to help them write the letter (for example, shadow more...ect)...that will help you remind your DO of the letter and also get a better letter! The key phrase to ask them is..."At this point, do you feel comfortable writing a positive letter of recommendation for me?" You will get a straight answer...I promise =)

Good luck!

 

[drfeelgood]

I shadowed Dr. Ethan Allen in Norwalk, CAliforna for 3 hours back in 1997 and got a killer letter. He happens to be COMP Admin. I think he's still in practice...(one of the old time docs.)

 

[Dr. MAXY]

Yeap, rfeelgood, mine was the same situation. The DO I shadowed was a faculty of OSU-COM, was also an aluminus of my undergrad school, and happened to be a classmate of my interviewer (all graduates of OSU-COM). I shadowed him for an entire day, and my letter was excellente.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

I can remember being very nervous about finding a DO for a rec letter. I wasn't sure I would be able to find one at all! i am from an area where DO's are VERY few and far between. So first I started out cold. I called (actually paged) the sole DO FP resident and took it from there. he wasn't too far out of school, so he knew what I was doing and what I needed. he knew from the get go that I needed a letter. I spent a couple of hours with him shadowing one afternoon. End result: very strong letter (I know cuz I proofed and printed it). I also gave him a copy of a letter another physicain had written me (personal) that was absolutely fantastic to use as sort of a template. The funny thing is I also got another letter from another DO that I lucked into - I was working letters from both doctors at the same time cuz I wasn't sure if they would both pan out. She had done some training with the dad of a buddy of mine. She wrote me a great letter(again, using the template as refernece). I didn't even shadow her, just wewnt over to her house and sat around and talked for an hour or so.

I sent both letters in, I figured what the heck.

One word of advice, do it early. It took a while for mew to get letters back. I hated to call and sound pushy, but it can get down to a deadline pretty quickly.

 

[DrQuinn]

Here's how I got my DO LOR...

I spent a summer up in Alaska between my junior and senior year of undergrad... and shadowed the doctors there in the ED. None of them were DOs... there was one DO on staff at the hospital though, a psychiatrist... I called and set up a time to meet with her so we could talk about DO schools. I met her for 30 minutes, and asked her right then if she could write me a LOR. She said she would. (She also said I would be guaranteed a spot at her alma mater... but that wasn't the case). So I never really shadowed her...

The interesting thing, though, is when I interviewed at NSU, my interviewers asked about my LOR... I told her she was a psychiatrist, and they laughed... well, because most people get an FP...

Q

 

[Atlas]

The DO I shadowed was upfront with me and asked me during our initial meeting if I was expecting a letter of recommendation out of him. I said that I would like that very much. 😀

 

[DrMom]

I agree with SexyEgptnDr, you should be upfront and ask about the LOR early on. Any DO would understand that you need this. Be sure that they can attest that you understand osteopathy. As far as how long you should shadow...it would be best to spend a chunk of time with them, but I'd do whatever you can work out, even if it is just 1 morning.

I guess I'm pretty fortunate on the DO LOR...I had 3 DOs that asked if they could write me a LOR. I took 2 of them up on it (I thought 3 would be overkill!).