Does DO letter of rec have to be from someone you've shadowed?

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jayhiller21

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I am interested in applying for DO schools this coming cycle, but am nervous because I am exhausting my cold call list/connections for finding DO's to shadow/get a LOR from. So far, nothing has been successful. However, I am an EMT at an event medical services company (have been for 1.5 yrs) and the boss/founder of the company is a Osteopathic Physician currently in his residency. I have 2 reservations about this:
1) I've personally only talked to the guy a few times (although it's not a very big company, like 40 employees and I've been there almost the longest out of anyone), so I'm not sure if he would be able to write a quality LOR. Although, he could probably talk to the manager whom I have a much more personal relationship with.
2) Would the fact that hasn't finished residency look bad?
 
It all depends..On my LOR the physician who wrote my letter had stated specifically that he was an "Attending" at a specific hospital and have his specific job description. The closest thing to relating this to another question frequently asked is comparing it to a letter from a Lab TA aka a Graduate student LOR. If I were an ADCOM staff member I would probably look at it with a little less weight than I would if it were an attending writing the letter. Obviously, you want the best letter possible and the more experienced and well-known the physician, the better, but this is not a perfect world and things can't always be that black and white. I would say it is okay to get a LOR from a D.O. you have never shadowed if, and only if, the D.O. knows you well enough that you feel comfortable letting him or her write a very important letter that could make or break your admissions decision. This is all my opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is my honest opinion at that.
 
Nope.


I am interested in applying for DO schools this coming cycle, but am nervous because I am exhausting my cold call list/connections for finding DO's to shadow/get a LOR from. So far, nothing has been successful. However, I am an EMT at an event medical services company (have been for 1.5 yrs) and the boss/founder of the company is a Osteopathic Physician currently in his residency. I have 2 reservations about this:
1) I've personally only talked to the guy a few times (although it's not a very big company, like 40 employees and I've been there almost the longest out of anyone), so I'm not sure if he would be able to write a quality LOR. Although, he could probably talk to the manager whom I have a much more personal relationship with.
2) Would the fact that hasn't finished residency look bad?
 
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