DO letter Question

[food2]

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Hi So I am applying to DO schools and was wondering how much of a disadvantage I would be if I didn't have any physician letters? I work full time so I don't really have a chance to shadow and the only time I have free time is sometimes on Saturday, when most of the offices are closed. I am at a loss on how to obtain these DO/MD letters with my schedule...

My top school is UNECOM. I have a balanced MCAT score of 30 and good EC's with clinical volunteering. Any insight is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[scarecrow90]

Hi So I am applying to DO schools and was wondering how much of a disadvantage I would be if I didn't have any physician letters? I work full time so I don't really have a chance to shadow and the only time I have free time is sometimes on Saturday, when most of the offices are closed. I am at a loss on how to obtain these DO/MD letters with my schedule...

My top school is UNECOM. I have a balanced MCAT score of 30 and good EC's with clinical volunteering. Any insight is appreciated. Thank you!

I could be wrong, but I always thought that most schools require a physician's letter. You will have to check the school-specific requirements.

With that said... is there no way that you could request time off of work for one day to go shadow? That would be helpful. Furthermore, if you have no patient contact experience - no dice. You need that, otherwise it would be a serious red flag for an adcom (if I am wrong here, someone please correct me).

 

[TreadLightly]

I specifically called schools to ask this question. The following schools require a letter and your app won't move forward until you have one:

Western
Touro CA
SOMA
KCOM
AZCOM

I'm guessing most (if not all) the other schools are similar.

 

[food2]

Some don't like UNECOM and PCOM and NYIT but they strongly recommend it...I have a time sensitive job and would rather not miss a day of work if possible. But i guess I should just suck it up and miss work. Will doctors give a rec after a day of shadowing?

 

[TreadLightly]

Some don't like UNECOM and PCOM and NYIT but they strongly recommend it...I have a time sensitive job and would rather not miss a day of work if possible. But i guess I should just suck it up and miss work. Will doctors give a rec after a day of shadowing?

I know people who have gotten letters after only a day or so of shadowing but it depends on the doctor. I would still set aside more time just in case though...

 

[hallowmann]

Some don't like UNECOM and PCOM and NYIT but they strongly recommend it...I have a tisme sensitive job and would rather not miss a day of work if possible. But i guess I should just suck it up and miss work. Will doctors give a rec after a day of shadowing?

Pretty much all of the other schools require a physician letter (if not specifically a DO letter). If I were you I'd try my best to get one. The good thing is that DO schools don't need the letter until when you submit the secondary (LECOM doesn't need LORs until the interview), so if you are submitting your primary now, you have at least a month to look for a doc to shadow and write you a letter without it delaying you. It really should be easy enough to find one.

As far as how long it takes to shadow someone before they will write you an LOR, it really depends on the doc. Some will give one after only 1 day of shadowing, but I think most will expect at least 3 days of shadowing (doesn't have to be the whole day just 3 different instances). Usually its over the span of 2 weeks to a month, depending on when your schedules match up.

 

[GraceEuphoria]

I would try not to look at this as a burden, but more so as a necessity. A couple of mornings with a doc is not asking that much of you and it's only one of seemingly hundreds in the process of becoming doctor. You gotta play the game and it doesn't stop once you get in, I assure you. It's good to see the field. Even if you're only there a couple mornings like I was when I got mine, you need to be exposed (maybe you have been, I don't know your background). It's good to know what a day in the life of a doc is really like. You could always try to shadow someone on an off schedule...for example, a minute clinic doc that works after your normal work hours. Or an ER doc that does shifts on the weekend. This is just really not much of them to ask of you and you don't want to limit yourself by not getting one, in my opinion.