Can you get into UMICH's Epidemiology Program w/out LOR from PI?

[lgirl60]

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Hello!
I am graduating in December and am greatly interested in applying to the General and/or International Epidemiology program at University of Michigan next year. I was watching an admissions video on UM SPH's website for prospective applicants and one of the admissions chairs in the video said that one of the things the admissions committee is interested in seeing is a letter of rec from the person you did a research project with if you did research. I did about two semesters of biochem research last year in a lab, but I wasn't very close to the professor (I spent more time interacting with my peers who were working with me on our project). Anyway, because of my schedule and work conflicts, I won't be able to do research this semester in that lab again. Will it raise a red flag if I don't get a letter of rec from that PI? I feel like I can get much more personal strong letters of rec from other people.
Thank You!

 

[PointEstimate]

Get the stronger letters.

The international health track is incredibly competitive (compared to the general epidemiology track), so you want to make yourself stand out.* If I were you, I would focus my application/personal statement around what has led me to my interest in international help, what I hope to gain from my training at Michigan, and how I would like to transform academic experience into practice. Strong LORs from people who can attest to your interests will help you a lot more than a lukewarm letter from a PI.

*IH is more competitive than GE because a large difference in seats available. Since IH requires an international summer internship, and setting up/funding these experiences is a lot of work on the staff, there is just fewer seats for IH applicants to compete for. Not saying one is better than the other.