Do I really need to have interacted a lot with my prof to get recs?

[yjj8817]

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If I didn't interact much with my profs during office hours but did well in the classes and met with the profs to talk about the med school app and gave them everything such as ps, resume, transcript, and maybe records of my excellence in classes, would that be ok?

I got 2 of my past sci teachers to write recs for me for med school but I wasn't completely sure.

 

[justAstudent]

You can, but what can they realistically say in their letter other than rehashing what grade you got and how many students were in the class?

 

[BurberryDoc]

If I didn't interact much with my profs during office hours but did well in the classes and met with the profs to talk about the med school app and gave them everything such as ps, resume, transcript, and maybe records of my excellence in classes, would that be ok?

I got 2 of my past sci teachers to write recs for me for med school but I wasn't completely sure.

"Dear Sirs,

yjj8817 was a student in my course, "Biology Lab II" for which s/he earned a grade of A-. Only 8 students in the past year have recieved this grade. Please consider yjj8817 for your MD program.

Cordially,

Biology Professor, PhD"

 

[BurberryDoc]

Not very compelling, is it?

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

Not very compelling, is it?

No, but this is what most people get from the science professors. I never spoke to mine, except to ask for a letter of rec, and I've received 9 II this cycle.

My stronger letters were from my boss at work, doctors I've worked for, etc.

As long as you have other letters which can speak to your personal qualities, I think it's fine to have the generic science professor LOR. I think the adcoms know that many people are coming from schools where there are 200+ people in a lecture hall.

 

[pyrrion89]

If I didn't interact much with my profs during office hours but did well in the classes and met with the profs to talk about the med school app and gave them everything such as ps, resume, transcript, and maybe records of my excellence in classes, would that be ok?

I got 2 of my past sci teachers to write recs for me for med school but I wasn't completely sure.

Try to pick a class where your prof had a chance to get to know you, like one with small class size, student participation, big projects you had to present to professor. Also some nice professors will agree to "meet with you to discuss your letter," which is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your personality, what you liked and learned from the professors class, what you like about the subject the professor taught, and why you're passionate about medicine/whatever. That way they can learn a bit about who you are as a person and put that in the letter

 

[yjj8817]

For one professor, I was one of his 10 TAs and held office hours, wrote practice exam questions, proctored exams etc. for him.

For the other professor, when I talked to him, he said that not only will he include information about my performance on exams but he will also talk to my graduate TA to include information about my performance in the discussion section of the course which include things like presentations etc.

 

[yjj8817]

No, but this is what most people get from the science professors. I never spoke to mine, except to ask for a letter of rec, and I've received 9 II this cycle.

My stronger letters were from my boss at work, doctors I've worked for, etc.

As long as you have other letters which can speak to your personal qualities, I think it's fine to have the generic science professor LOR. I think the adcoms know that many people are coming from schools where there are 200+ people in a lecture hall.

I think my non science letter and research letter will be good. so maybe I might be ok?

and yeah I go to a big state school lol

 

[BurberryDoc]

The point I was driving at, is that he ADCOMS need to separate the wheat from the chaff. A lot of schools limit the # of letters you can submit, so these kinds of letters are low yield. Put yourself out there. Ask questions at the end of lecture. Go to office hours with mind probing inquiries. I went to a school where all of my classes were at least 60 students (upper level) and the lower level courses were upwards of 300 people.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

I think my non science letter and research letter will be good. so maybe I might be ok?

and yeah I go to a big state school lol

Yeah I think you should be fine. Like Pyrrion said above, sometimes your professors will meet with you, ask for your resume, or even your personal statement so that they can write a more personal letter. They know it's hard to get to know each other in these huge classes, and they want to help you as much as they can. Others will write a letter based solely on your grades and class standing (I had one notoriously difficult professor who did not believe in up-sucking, flashy resumes, etc -- he told me he did not want anything from me, and his letter was based solely on my exam scores and rank in the class, lol).

 

[BurberryDoc]

I think my non science letter and research letter will be good. so maybe I might be ok?

and yeah I go to a big state school lol

Do you want your applications to ride on "maybe" or "might"?

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

This is basically how I got all of my LORs, but I wouldn't recommend it. Obviously, I would suggest that you make an effort to get to know all of your letter writers, but sometimes that's not feasible. If you are asking this question after already giving them your application, it might be too late to build a better relationship. If you have a few really solid LORs to balance out the "meh" ones, than I think you'll be okay.

 

[BurberryDoc]

No, but this is what most people get from the science professors. I never spoke to mine, except to ask for a letter of rec, and I've received 9 II this cycle.

My stronger letters were from my boss at work, doctors I've worked for, etc.

As long as you have other letters which can speak to your personal qualities, I think it's fine to have the generic science professor LOR. I think the adcoms know that many people are coming from schools where there are 200+ people in a lecture hall.

Meh, I knew it would be important to have great letters from professors, so I invested alot of time into building relationships with them. Note: NOT ass-kissing, but meaningful relationships.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

Meh, I knew it would be important to have great letters from professors, so I invested alot of time into building relationships with them. Note: NOT ass-kissing, but meaningful relationships.

Hehe, it kind of sounds like you had an ulterior motive...

 

[BurberryDoc]

Well, not really an ulterior motive. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that I built relationships with my professors, but when I graduated and realized I was taking a few gap years, I made damn sure that I maintained those relationships - so wen the time to ask for a letter came around, they would remember me, be up to date on my exploits, etc. Now that I'm accepted, I still keep in touch. I've been invited for dinner at a professors house to celebrate the acceptance, and I am going to another professors retirement celebration in June. Meaningful relationships. Mentors, if you will.

 

[yjj8817]

ok then so this is my last semester of college and I want to keep my schedule light because of mcat. If I take some science classes this semester in order to get better recs it would take up some of my mcat studying time. Should I just go with the potentially weaker letters?