DO/MD Physician Letter

[squidproquo]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[austintr]

Does the required DO/MD physician letter need to be from a doctor you've worked with in a clinical setting? I understand the reasoning for this, but I have a letter from a practicing MD who was a professor for a few health-related classes I took. He often shared advice and stories about his experiences as a physician, so I'm wondering if this is sufficient.

Thanks in advance.

Obviously, you should try and get a letter from a physician you have shadowed/worked with in a clinical setting. If you're going mainly DO (assuming DO is a possibility since this is the DO subforum), you should try reasonably hard to get a shadowing gig with a DO and a letter of rec from them. Some schools require a DO letter, but more of them will accept MD letters as well. Would it be sufficient to get a letter from a physician you haven't shadowed? Probably at most schools, but maybe not at others. You would be better off covering your bases by arranging a letter from a physician you shadowed, for multiple reasons. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have a (good) letter from him, but I wouldn't count on it satisfying all requirements, just to be safe. If all else fails, call your top schools and see what they say.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Yes, this would work for any school requiring a letter from a physician as long as it meets the D.O. requirement for the select schools who require D.O. letters rather than M.D. letters. It may not be ideal, but as long a the letter composer is a practicing physician then you are perfectly fine with submitting it.