freshman letter of recommendation for research? mention a research experience that is not mentioned in work/activities section?

[MCAT_IS_ROUGH]

Hi Everyone,

I am planning to submit my AMCAS for MD/PhD programs in a few days, and genuinely looking for advice for the following situations:

1. Since I planned to apply for MD-only programs as well, I tried to balance activities/work section with more clinical/leadership stuff that are non-research focused. Therefore, I omitted one of the earlier research experience that was not as significant as others in my freshman year. I have submitted application for MD-only programs as I needed more time to write MD/PhD only essays.

Later when I am writing significant research experience, I wanted to incorporate this freshman experience as it was my first wet lab experience from a disadvantaged background. Will that raise eyebrows from people, since I did not mention it in my previous app sections?

2. If I decided that I do want to incorporate this experience, how important is it to ask for a LOR from the PI for this experience? My understanding is MD/PhD programs will ask for all research LORs (please correct me if I am wrong). So in that case I will need to reach out to this professor whom I haven't contacted for more than 3 years. We had a fairly personal relationship back then but I believe he has relocated to a different institution already and probably forgot most about me.

Thanks for your time and help!

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[Maebea]

From my perspective, you can safely write about this experience without getting a letter of recommendation from the PI. It is highly likely that the evaluation from that mentor will shed little light on your potential to become an independent investigator compared to what your subsequent mentors have to say about you. Frankly, if that letter was included with your application, I would skim through it in quickly and would not give it much weight.

 

[MCAT_IS_ROUGH]

From my perspective, you can safely write about this experience without getting a letter of recommendation from the PI. It is highly likely that the evaluation from that mentor will shed little light on your potential to become an independent investigator compared to what your subsequent mentors have to say about you. Frankly, if that letter was included with your application, I would skim through it in quickly and would not give it much weight.

Hi there, Thank you so much for your advice! I guess based on that I will still ask for the letter, in case anyone (even though unlikely) will still want to see it. I do have other letter writers who know me much better and can support my application; however, I will definitely include that experience in my essay then.