Dilemma with LORs-What would you do?

[oOKawaiiOo]

I sent in 5/6 LORs to my school and they all have been sent out to their respective schools. I recently finished my D.O. shadowing experience with a family-practice physician (3rd year into his residency) and didn't expect him to write a LOR. He asked if I wanted one. Without hesitation I said yes! He is the only physician who did OMT/OMM, and I know he would write a strong LOR.

More info: He treated me like a medical student and allowed me to feel cystic-like sac under the skin, palpate the abdomen, use my stethoscope to hear heart rhythm, lung fields, and bowel sounds. HE WAS THE BEST. His attending physician even asked me questions, testing my knowledge.

Now, you have already sent in 5/6 LORs, would you get another letter and have to resend all of the letters again? Im still in the process of verification, 4 week check point in a week. I don't have to pay to send the letters out, my university will.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Shammyguy3]

i'm in a very similar boat. I have 2 science, 1 non-science, 1 MD, and 1 pharmacist letter (i volunteered for his pharmacy at a hospital for 150ish hours). I recently found a DO in the area that allowed me to shadow last week. Afterwards he asked how many more days/hours I'd like, and he stated it would be fine to have it open-ended until I feel comfortable.

During the shadowing experience, I got to meet an OMS3 on his FM rotation, and us three were talking about school and application cycles and how they've changed etc. The physician seems to understand how important the DO letter is, I haven't asked him nor will I until I feel comfortable with the amount of hours I have shadowed, but I'm hopeful that I can add his letter to my collection and call it an app cycle and hope for the best on secondaries.

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

Pretty cool yet odd that you have a pharmacist LOR.

 

[Shammyguy3]

yeah, i'm wondering exactly how it will be viewed. We got to know each other over 6 months while I was still in undergrad and before i got a full-time healthcare tech/scribe gig. We still have a good relationship which is nice. Considering I spent all that time with him instead of the volunteer coordinator I thought it would be far better to ask him, and he was more than happy to.

Will it be viewed as (a) "Meh, so what." or (b) hmmm that's definitely something different or (c) why did he volunteer at a pharmacy? If it is (a) then oh well, if it's (b) then great since it makes me stand out maybe a shade differently than other applicants, and if it's (c) well it was the only position at a hospital very close to home available at the time, and since it was actually in the hospital I thought it would be great

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

What kind of tasks did you have volunteering at the pharmacy? Volunteering is volunteering. Any shared time is good time. You gotta be different nowadays.

 

[Shammyguy3]

standard pharmacy technician tasks, so filling scripts for the pharmacists to check, calling patients regarding their scripts, calling doctors' offices regarding scripts, working on the register, stocking the OTC aisle items and stocking prescription drugs behind the counter, etc

 

[TUVIX]

Make an interfolio account and have him send it there, send to schools, don't involve your undergrad. Done.

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

Make an interfolio account and have him send it there, send to schools, don't involve your undergrad. Done.

Would it cost money to send the letters to the schools?

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

standard pharmacy technician tasks, so filling scripts for the pharmacists to check, calling patients regarding their scripts, calling doctors' offices regarding scripts, working on the register, stocking the OTC aisle items and stocking prescription drugs behind the counter, etc

That's great. Pretty impressive. You were like a pharm tech. As long as you took time know the medications that's a plus.

 

[Shammyguy3]

That's great. Pretty impressive. You were like a pharm tech. As long as you took time know the medications that's a plus.

yeah it turned out to be quite fun, it's definitely something I'm proud I did. And I had to get licensed as a pharmacy tech too, had to pay the fee and everything for volunteer work lol

 

[TUVIX]

Would it cost money to send the letters to the schools?

Yep. You would have to sign up for interfolio which is $19.00 and then each school you send it to would cost an additional $6. So If you applied to 20 schools it would cost you $139. Is it worth that much to send a D.O. LOR to all your schools? That's up to you. What I can tell you is that it would be instantaneous, as every DO school accepts LOR via interfolio electronically. So they get it right away.

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

Yep. You would have to sign up for interfolio which is $19.00 and then each school you send it to would cost an additional $6. So If you applied to 20 schools it would cost you $139. Is it worth that much to send a D.O. LOR to all your schools? That's up to you. What I can tell you is that it would be instantaneous, as every DO school accepts LOR via interfolio electronically. So they get it right away.

That's too much just to resend my letters. My undergrad school can send the letter within a week. I mean schools dont need the LORS until I send the secondary? Right? Im still in the verification process, 4 week mark is in 3 days.

yeah it turned out to be quite fun, it's definitely something I'm proud I did. And I had to get licensed as a pharmacy tech too, had to pay the fee and everything for volunteer work lol

You should go to pharm school as plan B, if you wanted.

 

[Shammyguy3]

Definitely not a plan B, I don't want to be a pharmacist. Plan B would be PA, then plan C would be nurse practitioner. It was a volunteer gig that I enjoyed because of the pharmacist, but I cannot see myself doing that for the rest of my life