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[Frigidcold]

No

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[KnightDoc]

Some research powerhouses require letters from all PI

This^^^^^. I'm not an expert, but I've been told Harvard, for one, requires LORs from ALL PIs. You need to figure this out on the front end by checking with each of your research powerhouses, and then decide whether or not to get what you fear might be "iffy" letters just to send to those schools that require them.

Your two other options would be to not apply to those schools, or to not include those research experiences on your primary. If it were me, I'd get all of the letters, have them sent to Interfolio, and then figure it out when you are actually applying. Better to get the letters now and not use them later than to not get them now and have to go back later, or, even worse, not be able to apply to a school you had your heart set on. JMHO.

 

[LizzyM]

You have no obligation to list every research opportunity and every publication, You will need to decide if the downside of leaving them out is bettr than the downside of not having a PI letter from the same experience.

 

[Frigidcold]

Yes

 

[Moko]

tl;dr: Worked in three labs an undergraduate. Want to only submit letter from the one I've worked at the longest and had the most significant contributions at. Not sure if that's a red flag.

Senior hoping to apply to medical schools (MD only, including the "research powerhouses") in a year. Three labs in undergrad: 4 years in one, ~1.25 in another, summer in the third. Heavily considering only asking for a recommendation from the one I've worked in longest. I don't think excluding the summer one will be a problem because it was only 10 weeks and quite a while ago. Not sure though whether not submitting a letter from a lab I've worked in for 1.25 years is a red flag though. Working on an independent project, but unstable funding situation, poor mentorship, and lack of interest for the research topic has left me feeling burnt out and thinking about quitting. Have a very low author paper coming out from the lab for some minor work not related to the independent project. PI says he would understand and would be willing to write me a good recommendation as he still thinks I performed well for an undergraduate, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth since it seems like he'd prefer if I stayed. Will definitely be getting a recommendation from the lab I've worked in for 4 years. Love the subject area, good relationship with PI, multiple publications in high impact journals. Would that be good enough? Fairly balanced research - service/leadership application. Will probably be doing Teach for America during my gap years. High stats.

At my school, you would be completely fine with just that one presumably glowing PI LOR. Harvard is the only school I'm aware of that explicitly asks for letters from every PI.

When you apply, you have the option of 'picking and choosing' which letters a school will receive, so you can give Harvard all your PI letters while ensuring that other schools will not see these potentially lukewarm letter(s). Best of luck.

 

[KnightDoc]

At my school, you would be completely fine with just that one presumably glowing PI LOR. Harvard is the only school I'm aware of that explicitly asks for letters from every PI.

When you apply, you have the option of 'picking and choosing' which letters a school will receive, so you can give Harvard all your PI letters while ensuring that other schools will not see these potentially lukewarm letter(s). Best of luck.

This is exactly what I was thinking. @Frigidcold -- I don't have such an embarrassment of riches, so what I'm about to suggest is more my projecting onto you what I'd do than what I'm actually in a position to do. If it were me, my calculus would revolve around how badly I wanted the best possible shot at Harvard, and, if the answer is "a lot," whether my Harvard application would be stronger with the lukewarm letters or without reference to the lab experience in question.

As a wannabe research stud, I think 4 years in one lab with multiple publications in high impact journals is way more than most people have, and anything beyond that is not going to make your application meaningfully stronger, but, I'm definitely not in your shoes, and only you can make the call.

If it were me, I'd either drop Harvard or drop the reference to the 1.25 yr lab, because the way I'm reading your OP, your Harvard application will be stronger without it, while, of course, all of your other applications will be stronger with the lab and without the LOR, although I do question by how much, given how strong it already is. For the record, yeah, I don't think Harvard will like you going against their guidance and not providing the LOR, and they'll wonder why. Whether or not that rises to the level of a red flag is an open question.

Your application might be strong enough to overcome that, but do you want to take that chance? To me, that's what this decision comes down to for you -- is making your Harvard application stronger worth hiding the EC from all the other schools? If the LOR really does turn out to be lukewarm, there is a chance it could kill you at Harvard, which might be fine if you'd really rather go to Stanford or JHU, and that extra lab puts you over the top at them. Nice to have such first world problems, but there really is no obvious call here!!! Good luck!!!

 

[Frigidcold]

Sometimes

 

[KnightDoc]

@KnightDoc Appreciate you taking the time to write such a lengthy post. Sorta surprised to read that you're also pre-med with how many posts you have, haha.

Honestly don't really mind how my Harvard app goes since I never imagined being competitive enough to get in anyways, but I agree that not following their guidance likely would kill my app at a place so competitive. Definitely not worth hurting my chances at every other school, so I'd probably just bite the bullet and send all the LORs to Harvard.

Yup! Again, the question is would it really hurt your application at the other schools to leave it out, given how strong your other research is? You have at least a year to think about it, so why not just play it safe and get the LORs now, and spend the next year pondering it? With high stats and high productivity, high impact publication research, you are definitely competitive everywhere.

With respect to your observation about me, yeah, if all my obsessing about applying to med school counted as research experience, and posting on SDN counted as a peer reviewed, high impact publication, my application would be as strong as yours!!

 

[Orims]

Take my experience with a grain of salt (non trad, 7 years removed from undergrad), but I only had a letter of recommendation from my main research experience during undergrad (3.5 years in the same lab) and I've had a successful cycle getting IIs and As from "research powerhouses". I think having letters from very meaningful research experiences is better than bloating your application with "filler" letters.

I did not ask PIs from my summer experiences (one 3 months and one 6 months across two years) for letters but still reported them on my activities. Of course this would be completely different if you were applying for MD/PhD programs.

And just an n of 1, but I can attest that Harvard is definitely a suggestion. I only had a letter from my undergrad PI and my graduate advisor and got an II. Hopefully omitting those other two PIs won't get back at me when we hear about decisions this week or next.

Best of luck!

 

[deleted555445]

Take my experience with a grain of salt (non trad, 7 years removed from undergrad), but I only had a letter of recommendation from my main research experience during undergrad (3.5 years in the same lab) and I've had a successful cycle getting IIs and As from "research powerhouses". I think having letters from very meaningful research experiences is better than bloating your application with "filler" letters.

I did not ask PIs from my summer experiences (one 3 months and one 6 months across two years) for letters but still reported them on my activities. Of course this would be completely different if you were applying for MD/PhD programs.

And just an n of 1, but I can attest that Harvard is definitely a suggestion. I only had a letter from my undergrad PI and my graduate advisor and got an II. Hopefully omitting those other two PIs won't get back at me when we hear about decisions this week or next.

Best of luck!

this is good to know. i'm 5 years out of UG and i wasn't planning on reaching out to the PI i worked with (one paper, middle author) in UG, since I've been doing research full time since graduation and haven't kept in touch.

 

[Mr.Blackdoc.5]

Personally wouldn’t risk submitting any letter that might even have a slight possibility of being subpar

 

[Talldoctor96]

I mean.... most schools only want so many letters ya know? I think having a research letter from your longest PI is more than enough.