Do my LORs suck??!!?

[chicago991]

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I'm applying again to med school in 2008 after being waitlisted at the only school I applied to in the '07 cycle. I'm not all too upset about being waitlisted since I applied on the deadline to UIC. I also got into Georgetown's SMP. But I am starting to wonder if one of my LORs is horrible. I got an A in the prof's class (Orgo), but when I met him, he asked to see my full college transcript (there is a slight downward trend on it.) I'm wondering if he saw that and wrote about it negatively. Do other prof's ask for transcripts when writing LORs? Do you think the letter could be bad?

 

[Law2Doc]

Do other prof's ask for transcripts when writing LORs? Do you think the letter could be bad?

Quite a few profs will ask to see a transcript and CV before they write a letter for you. That's not uncommon at all.

Only you can know if this prof is the type who would burn you.

 

[chicago991]

Quite a few profs will ask to see a transcript and CV before they write a letter for you. That's not uncommon at all.

Only you can know if this prof is the type who would burn you.

How can I tell if he is the type?

 

[GuitarHero1]

I think you should ask yourself why you only applied to one school rather than if your letter of recommendation is bad. Maybe sounds harsh, but it's a much easier question to answer. Being waitlisted at the only school you applied to doesn't tell a clue about the value of your letter (unless you contacted the school and asked why you were waitlisted, and they said "cuz of your LOR")

 

[63768]

How can I tell if he is the type?

the way y'all interact. if he's a dick or inconsiderate, then he may be the type to screw you over. you could also just ask him straight up if he thinks he can write a positive recommendation for you.

 

[chicago991]

I think you should ask yourself why you only applied to one school rather than if your letter of recommendation is bad. Maybe sounds harsh, but it's a much easier question to answer. Being waitlisted at the only school you applied to doesn't tell a clue about the value of your letter (unless you contacted the school and asked why you were waitlisted, and they said "cuz of your LOR")

Can you ask medical schools straight up why they waitlisted you? Or is this considered taboo?

 

[Law2Doc]

Can you ask medical schools straight up why they waitlisted you? Or is this considered taboo?

After you are rejected, you can sometimes get an opportunity with an admissions person to discuss "what you can do to improve your application for a future cycle". At that time, they might give you a heads up on a bad LOR, but they might not. It is definitely taboo to outright ask about the content of an LOR since you have formally waived your rights to see such, and they were written with the expectation that it was to be kept confidential.

 

[badasshairday]

Dude you applied to one school and got waitlisted at that ONE school. Call that school up and try to find out why. I highly doubt its your letter of rec because if it was so bad they would have probably just rejected you rather than put you on the waitlist.

Next time, apply to 10 schools at least...

 

[10Blade]

I'm applying again to med school in 2008 after being waitlisted at the only school I applied to in the '07 cycle. I'm not all too upset about being waitlisted since I applied on the deadline to UIC. I also got into Georgetown's SMP. But I am starting to wonder if one of my LORs is horrible. I got an A in the prof's class (Orgo), but when I met him, he asked to see my full college transcript (there is a slight downward trend on it.) I'm wondering if he saw that and wrote about it negatively. Do other prof's ask for transcripts when writing LORs? Do you think the letter could be bad?

I asked a letter from my research professor even though I felt she could mention something negative about me (my lack of punctuality or something like that). In order to gauge her letter, I asked for a LOR from a community leader. This community leader wanted some information about my academic background so, being clever, I had my first prof send a copy of her letter to the community leader. The community leader said it was one of the best letters he's ever read. Of course, he didn't provide detailed information- just the overall impression. By the way, this community leader is a clinical professor at a medical school. Maybe for the future application cycle, you can do something like that. Good luck to anyone who reads my post!

Also, most professors would rather not write an LOR than to write a negative one. I guess it just depends on the professor and their relationship to you.

 

[Vvandenn]

Quite a few profs will ask to see a transcript and CV before they write a letter for you. That's not uncommon at all.

Only you can know if this prof is the type who would burn you.

Only you can prevent forest fires!

 

[chicago991]

Many other professors ask for transcripts, resumes, or anything else that would help them personalize their writing.

It could be bad, but I'd guess not. Who would write a bad letter, rather than not writing one at all? I asked a professor who had a questionable opinion of me for a LOR, he just said no.

Where do you submit you LORs to anyway? At my school they all go to the premed advisor, who sends them all out. He also reads them and screens them to make sure no one sends out a bad letter.

I have a premed advisor that sets up a recfile. She collects the LORs from all the profs and sends them out. I waived a right to access them, but would it be wrong for me to ask my advisor what the general impression is of the LORs?

 

[prettymonkey]

if you get interviews cant you assume that your LOR's weren't bad? Maybe they weren't stellar, but if you get an interview doesn't it mean that there weren't any red flags in your primary or secondary applications? At the point of interviews and waitlists, whether or not you get an acceptance is very complicated and likely not just one thing like a bad LOR. It is likely that there were just lots of really qualified people and if you applied late, you put yourself at a disadvantage even if you are in fact more qualified than many people that did get accepted. (I tell myself this often... got waitlisted without acceptances in '05 cycle)

 

[stat3113]

So I assume this is how the pre-med committee works: they have 5 letters, all positive, and they patch them together into 1 committee letter.

Now assume 1 is negative, 4 are positive. What do they do?

A) Ignore the negative, and use the 4 positive, or
B) Integrate the negative into their own letter, i.e. John is a great student, very motivated, etc, according to these 4 professors. But Dr. Smith who taught him Genetics notes that while very gifted, John could apply himself harder in class, etc.

Which of the following would the committee be more likely to do? I would think the committee would need to balance 1) their desire to see all their students get into med school, and 2) the need to have credibility with med schools so they have to be honest in their assessments.

What do you think?

 

[MossPoh]

Do people actually do negative recommendation letters? I can see luke warm, but unless you are a complete tool it doesn't seem anyone would actually write a negative recommendation letter for you. They could be evil...but still.

The transcript type thing is pretty normal. I had a prof write a recommendation for me (for something else). He emailed me a list of things such as year, length of time in the curriculum, future goals, grades, and even amount of time studying. He just wanted to be able to write a more personal letter for me.....I wouldn't worry too much. In fact, if you got waitlisted at the one school you applied to then you must be on the cusp and may not even need a full SMP unless you are deadset on doing it.