During interviews, how often do you get asked about your LOR writers

[csx]

and what your LOR writers say about you? Or does this just not happen?

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[doapplicant2015]

I have never been asked..The LOR's seem to be just a formality or confirmation of EC's, grade trends, etc.

 

[baxt1412]

interested in this as well. i'd be interested to see if they thought one of my letters was particularly good and brought that up.

 

[Goro]

We are directed not to ask such things in order to avoid breaking the confidentiality of what the LOR writer's have said. It might be OK to say "Wow! Dr X really flipped over you. What did you do in his lab?"

When a LOR writer mentions something that is a red flag, we ask about it discretely, so as to not tip off who might have made the comment.

and what your LOR writers say about you? Or does this just not happen?

 

[jsmith522]

In the interviews I have had the most they have asked was what type of relationship with my letter writers I had with them. Which I have said that not only have I followed them but also worked under them as a paramedic. Usually all that had been said was I have good letters as they are going through my application to ask questions.

 

[csx]

We are directed not to ask such things in order to avoid breaking the confidentiality of what the LOR writer's have said. It might be OK to say "Wow! Dr X really flipped over you. What did you do in his lab?"

When a LOR writer mentions something that is a red flag, we ask about it discretely, so as to not tip off who might have made the comment.

How about if say your German professor wrote you an LOR and talked about how great your german was...would something like that get brought up?

 

[baxt1412]

How about if say your German professor wrote you an LOR and talked about how great your german was...would something like that get brought up?

nobody can tell for certain.

that being said, i could see a foreign language being brought up if it was more than just a general requirement for your college. if you only took two semesters, don't expect it to come up. if you took four years of german and studied abroad, etc etc etc then maybe. again, nobody really knows. you may have to get an interviewer who has an interest in other languages too. too many variables.

be familiar with all of your app though. run through your relationship with all of your letter writer's before hand and make sure you have a reason why you picked them or what sort of effect they had on your life or the development of your interest in medicien.

 

[Goro]

I don't see why it should.

How about if say your German professor wrote you an LOR and talked about how great your german was...would something like that get brought up?

 

[deleted436726]

Never got asked anything about my LoR writers, with the exception of a PI who I did research with (the question was about my research activities.)

 

[csx]

nobody can tell for certain.

that being said, i could see a foreign language being brought up if it was more than just a general requirement for your college. if you only took two semesters, don't expect it to come up. if you took four years of german and studied abroad, etc etc etc then maybe. again, nobody really knows. you may have to get an interviewer who has an interest in other languages too. too many variables.

be familiar with all of your app though. run through your relationship with all of your letter writer's before hand and make sure you have a reason why you picked them or what sort of effect they had on your life or the development of your interest in medicien.

I'm just a tad worried. My foreign lang prof I know will write a great LOR if I asked and I know he'd praise my language skills and my character. The problem is...i dont remember a lick of the language they taught me and when I tell them that they dont believe me haha...Im afraid itll get brought up at an interview because it is a common foreign language. I literally don't know anything about the language anymore and by nothing I mean that in the most literal sense.

 

[baxt1412]

I'm just a tad worried. My foreign lang prof I know will write a great LOR if I asked and I know he'd praise my language skills and my character. The problem is...i dont remember a lick of the language they taught me and when I tell them that they dont believe me haha...Im afraid itll get brought up at an interview because it is a common foreign language. I literally don't know anything about the language anymore and by nothing I mean that in the most literal sense.

i wouldn't worry about it to be honest. if you asked your professor to write you a positive letter of rec, i don't think they would put that in..

 

[csx]

@baxt1412 : My professor wouldn't put that I dont know language X in...theyd put how amazing I am at the language. But in reality, idk any of the language...err. Not sure if you read my post correct.

 

[baxt1412]

@baxt1412 : My professor wouldn't put that I dont know language X in...theyd put how amazing I am at the language. But in reality, idk any of the language...err. Not sure if you read my post correct.

i figured you had maybe told the professor you didn't remember much. anyway, so it seems like your worry is rooted in a fear of your interviewer asking you to respond in german (not the whole interview, just a little jab or something)?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

We are directed not to ask such things in order to avoid breaking the confidentiality of what the LOR writer's have said. It might be OK to say "Wow! Dr X really flipped over you. What did you do in his lab?"

When a LOR writer mentions something that is a red flag, we ask about it discretely, so as to not tip off who might have made the comment.

@Goro

How often do you see letters having negative comments?

 

[Francibald]

One of my interviewers was really pumped that I had a letter from a faculty member at the school whom I'd had classes with in the past (she holds faculty positions at multiple institutions), so we ended up talking about said writer and my relationship with her for a little while. We didn't really get into the content of the letter (though I had already read it to proofread it, and it sang my praises better than my personal statement), but it was an overall positive interaction.

 

[Goro]

Very rare, many one an interview cycle. Oddly, this subject seems to terrorize pre-meds more than Ebola or ISIS can.

Poor committee LORs are bit more common, but they're more "damnation by faint praise", and work by not giving a candidate the best possible rating (like, say only 3/5 instead of 5/5 or "recommend" instead "recommend highly").

@Goro

How often do you see letters having negative comments?

 

[nm825]

Very rare, many one an interview cycle. Oddly, this subject seems to terrorize pre-meds more than Ebola or ISIS can.

Poor committee LORs are bit more common, but they're more "damnation by faint praise", and work by not giving a candidate the best possible rating (like, say only 3/5 instead of 5/5 or "recommend" instead "recommend highly").

Is a faint praise committee letter a death sentence if the the applicant has a fairly strong application otherwise?

 

[Goro]

It tends to push people from a good position to a borderline one, but a great interview can overcome this. It's not reject material, more like wait list.

But bad LORS are definitely reject material!

Is a faint praise committee letter a death sentence if the the applicant has a fairly strong application otherwise?