Are program directors (w/ PhD) considered faculties?

[coralfangs]

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My UG doesn't have a premed com.
So I need to find 2 science faculties for my letters.
Well, previously, I had 3, but one who taught me in several courses, became seriously ill (I feel really bad) this year and retired from school.
Now, 1 of the 2 was my seinor research prof who also taught me in a class or two.
The other one was my program director. He has a PhD from the same institute and also happened to teach all my lab courses. However, he's NOT a professor (not doing any research currently)
Question
Is this program director still considered a faculty (a lecture professor)?
I am doing my masters right now, and it's going to be a hassle for me to track down previous years' professors and ask for a nice reference....
Can I use my current program director as a science faculty ref? She taught me in 2 courses.

 

[Ehegi]

It is my personal belief that the LOR guidelines at most schools are just that... guidelines. Think about what the adcoms are after. They want letters from people who know you well enough to give an accurate depiction/opinion of how you would do in medical school/medicine. The reason they want the 2 science prof, 1 non-science prof most of the time is because they want different perspectives from people of different backgrounds. Science profs probably have a good idea of what is needed for med school since they see a lot of premeds and that's probably why adcoms are interested.

My advice is to pick people who know you well enough and to write a good recommendation regardless of what their specific titles are. This past cycle, none of my 3 main letters came from faculty I had taken a course from. I had 2 letters from my lab, my PI (MD) and my lab manager(Ph.D), and 1 letter from my RF (resident fellow - faculty in dorm for whom I was an RA for 3 years - Ph.D. in econ). I hadn't taken any classes from any of the above but they all knew me very well and could give an honest opinion of me. I ended up doing alright. Got a bunch of interviews and a handful of acceptances.

So I'd say totally go for that letter from your program director.


Edit: I should also say that none of the schools I applied to came back and said "hey! you didn't have 2 science profs and 1 non-science prof! no med school for you!" 😛

However, during 1 interview, my interviewer did ask casually the reasoning behind my letter of rec choices. I just responded honestly and said that I wanted to give the committee letters from people who could give the best evaluation of me. I felt that my letter writers could do a much better job than some of my profs to whom I was just one face out of a sea of 200. My interviewer seemed very happy with that response and that was a school I later got an acceptance from.

 

[coralfangs]

My friend was incomplete at u penn (or one similarly ranked, don't quite remember) last year becuz, according to them, he did not have 2 lecture professors
That was bs though because he gave letters from 3 science faculties one was program coordinator, one was lecture/research, and one was lecture.
UPenn sent him an email asking for a 2nd lecture professor.
He replied asking if he could use his research one as his lecture one.
They said they would consider that.
After a few months, he received a letter saying that his file was incomplete and hence rejected.