Virtually every school's website that discusses letters will tell you in great detail what they are specifically looking for.
PS Just use google and search "NAME" Medical School Letters of Recommendation
For sample here are the 4 SUNY Med Schools which details goes from a line or two to a full page
SUNY Buffalo
Admission Requirements - Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences - University at Buffalo
submit three letters of recommendation—one from a science professor—or a prehealth committee letter of recommendation
SUNY Stony Brook
Admissions | Stony Brook University School of Medicine
A letter of evaluation from the applicant's premedical adviser is also required. If no such official exists, letters from two instructors, one of whom is in a science field, should be submitted. No other letters are solicited. However, the Committee on Admissions also welcomes letters from others who may provide important information about the candidate.
SUNY Downstate
Letters of Recommendation
Letters of Recommendation
All letters (packet or individual) must be submitted on letterhead, and must be signed by the letter writer. Letters not meeting these requirements will not be considered. All letters must be submitted electronically—through the AMCAS letter service (including Virtual Evals or Interfolio). The AMCAS application letter types are: Committee letter, Letter packet or Individual Letter.
We do not accept letters of recommendation sent by mail, email, or fax.
If you are submitting an AMCAS Committee Letter or a Letter Packet, we accept all the letters included in the packet. Please make sure that at least one of the letters is from a science professor who has taught you in a biology, chemistry or physics course.
Guidelines for Letters of Recommendation which must be submitted or included in your packet
If you are enrolled in a graduate program, your faculty advisor/major professor must submit a letter of recommendation. This should be in addition to the letters specified above.
If you have graduated from college and are currently employed or are a non-traditional applicant, you may submit two individual letters of recommendation if you are unable to submit a premedical advisor or a committee letter. One letter should be from a science faculty member who has taught you in one of the science courses required for admission, and the second letter may be from your supervisor at your place of employment, or a faculty member who has taught you recently.
If you have not taken any college course work recently (within the last six years) but are currently employed, you may submit two individual letters of recommendation. One should be from your supervisor at your place of employment and the second may be from a physician or health professional with whom you have worked or a faculty member who has taught you and knows you well.
Please do not submit more than the specified number of recommendation letters, as this will delay the processing of your application. All letters must be submitted through AMCAS Letters. If you are submitting a packet of letters (e.g., Committee Letter or Letter Packet), we accept all the letters included in the packet.
SUNY Upstate
Letters of Recommendation | College of Medicine | SUNY Upstate Medical University
Letters of Recommendation
SUNY Upstate Medical University participates in the
AMCAS Letters of Recommendation/Evaluation Service
. This service allows medical schools to receive all letters of recommendation electronically via AMCAS. It will allow letter writers to send letters of recommendations directly to AMCAS rather than to each individual school. Currently 138 medical schools are participating in this service.
Sending Letters of Recommendation
Letter writers may upload letters directly to AMCAS through the AMCAS Letter Writer Application.
Your letter writer must include your AMCAS Letter ID found on your Letter Request Form when sending letters to this service.
SUNY Upstate Medical University requires the following letters of recommendation:
Current Undergraduate Students: Applicants must submit a letter of evaluation from the Health Professions Advisory Committee or the Pre-Health Advisor from their undergraduate institution. In the absence of such a committee, two letters of recommendation from faculty members in different departments are acceptable, although one of the departments must be a science department.
Current Graduate Students: Students in a degree-granting program must submit a letter of recommendation from a graduate advisor or department chairperson. This letter is in addition to the Health Professions Advisor or Committee letter for undergraduate students (see above). For those applicants who have recently started their graduate program, we are looking for a letter of "good standing" from your graduate advisor or department chair. Non-matriculated students taking graduate courses do not need to submit this letter.
Non-Traditional Students: Applicants who graduated from an undergraduate college more than 5 years ago, and are currently employed full-time, may submit one letter of recommendation from a science faculty member with whom a medical school prerequisite was taken and one letter of recommendation from a current supervisor.
MD/PhD Applicants: Applicants must submit a letter of evaluation from their Health Professions Advisory Committee or Pre-health Advisor
AND three
(3) additional letters of recommendation from people familiar with their academic background, their interest in research and their suitability for the MD/PhD Program.
The three letters of recommendation to fulfill this requirement must be communicated when submitting a supplemental application to the MD/PhD Program. For the three additional research letters required, each letter must be in it's entirety and on college or business letterhead with a signature. If one or mores letters are already within a committee letter, this is acceptable so long as it is the full letter and has the writer's signature and still must be identified in the supplemental to fulfill the requirement.
