HELP guys!! 3 Letters of Reference

[HighlyFanatic]

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im just wondering...ppl that got accepted; who did you use? were they all profs?

i know most places say to use 3 academic references: Natural Science profs !!!!!!(bio, chem, etc.) the thing is i didnt get to know them very well in my 1st yr. i feel sick.

I'm using:

*my pharmacology professor,
*a biology TA (she's gonna write me an awesome letter),
*and my research supervisor...im a research assistant in his biology lab on campus (he's a PhD. and a professor, but not my prof)
*(i already have an optometrist)

....do you think these choices are acceptable even though most places require 3 profs! only one of them was a professor of mine?? im worried about it 🙁 ....

 

[Rosanna]

Hi HighlyFanatic:

My undergraduate school (UC Irvine) has a letter of recommendation file service that I used. The letters I received were sent to my counseling office which photocopied the entire file and sent it to each school I applied to. Every school received the same file even if they only required 3 or less letters of recommendation. I never had a problem using it, except I ran into some difficulties with UCBSO.

The letters I got were from:
- an optometrist I volunteered for.
- an ophthalmologist I was employed by.
- my physiology lab professor.
- SCCO?s AOSA trustee-elect wrote me a letter for participating in POPS.
- volunteer coordinator from the Blind Children?s Learning Center where I was a TA.

I decided to get two more letters for UCBSO since I am on the wait-list:
- my microbiology lab professor.
- director of a class that I?m currently coordinating.

You should double check with each school how many letters from natural science professors you will need. I?m almost 100% sure that you will need a letter from an optometrist that you volunteered for (some schools request that the optometrist is not a family member). I applied to SCCO, ICO, Newenco, SUNY, and UCBSO and they were fine with just ONE letter from a natural sciences professor (I was accepted into the first four schools). I decided myself to get the second letter for UCBSO when I was placed on the wait-list. None of the schools I applied to had a problem with my one letter from a professor. SUNY was a bit hesitant (I believe they wanted two letters from professors), but then they decided to waive it.

I would recommend you to politely ask your Biology TA to have the professor co-sign the letter. I know some people who have done that, and the TA is usually very understanding of the situation.

Best wishes,

Rosanna

 

[christie]

Like Rosanna mentioned, I would ask the TA to get a professor to co-sign the letter.

Also, I would highly recommend getting a letter from an Optometrist.

Good Luck 🙂

 

[r_salis]

I agree with what everyone else has been saying -- get the co-sign on the TA letter, and try to get a letter from an optometrist.

Also -- if you have a good relationship with any of your other non-science profs, a couple letters about your good character from them might substitute for natural science letters. My situation was a little different since I am a bit older, but I also got a couple letters from big-wigs at the company where I worked who had known me for a long time -- so if you can get a glowing letter from anyone you've worked for, even if it was a non-health-related job, that would be also be worthwhile.

Good luck!!!

 

[HighlyFanatic]

i already have an optometrist one 🙂

 

[J.opt]

Can you ask a professor to send a copy of the same letter to several schools? Or do you have to get letters from 6 different people if you are applying for two schools? (That is, to send 3 letters to each school)

(Let me know if this is not clear enough)