How important are letters of recommendation?

[jkm111]

how important is it to get great letters of recommendation compared to great GPA/MCATS? i dont know if i should take up a research position in a lab that would take up a large portion of my schedule/allow less time to study but would probably result in a good letter of recommendation since the PI would know me well. in your opinion is it better to have high GPA, or good LOR/research experience maybe at the expense of a high GPA?

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[GotMyHairDid]

Most people will agree that a great letter of recommendation can help you overcome minor GPA/MCAT deficiencies. At the same time, lackluster or bad LORs can hurt you.

Also, having a high GPA and great LORs are not mutually exclusive.

 

[ozzi22]

how important is it to get great letters of recommendation compared to great GPA/MCATS? i dont know if i should take up a research position in a lab that would take up a large portion of my schedule/allow less time to study but would probably result in a good letter of recommendation since the PI would know me well. in your opinion is it better to have high GPA, or good LOR/research experience maybe at the expense of a high GPA?

very important. bad lors can ruin your app whereas great lors can help your app very well. make sure you get good lors cuz 4.0 and 40 mcat with terrible lors is at risk of getting accepted.

 

[jkm111]

i don't mean necessarily a bad LOR, but a not-as-brilliant LOR as from someone who would know you for a longer time

 

[ozzi22]

i don't mean necessarily a bad LOR, but a not-as-brilliant LOR as from someone who would know you for a longer time

application is so competitive. a similar applicant with same gpa, same mcat scores and similar ec's with yours, is going to be accepted over yours if he/she has a better lor.

 

[torshi]

yes good ones are important, get ones from someone who really knows you or you think can write highly about you

 

[dragon529]

You have to remember the purpose of LORs are for others to give their opinions/impressions of you. Even though you might have great numbers and did great things, but if you aren't that people friendly or others look at you in a negative/snobby way, your chance of landing an acceptance is great diminished. You want strong letters to show adcoms that you are indeed a great person in others' eyes.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

yes good ones are important, get ones from someone who really knows you or you think can write highly about you

Are you not concerned about anonymity in these forums, mark?

 

[Overmjnd]

Are you not concerned about anonymity in these forums, mark?

...

 

[LEUNIT]

Letters of recommendation are very important.

 

[addo]

on a scale of 1 to 10, id say a 6, because while you dont need spectacular letters to get in you do need decent ones. a really bad one will destroy your app. But then again you should be able to gauge how good of a letter the person youre going to ask is likely to write... so the worry of a devastating letter should be pretty low.

btw, im totally joking about the scale, but I think the rest is accurate.

 

[Morzh]

According to the AAMC, on a 5 point scale of importance your LORs are a 3.3 in terms of getting an interview and a 3.7 for getting an acceptance afterwards.

 

[addo]

According to the AAMC, on a 5 point scale of importance your LORs are a 3.3 in terms of getting an interview and a 3.7 for getting an acceptance afterwards.

I had never seen that list... pretty good effort at trying to quantify all of that.

 

[Wermz]

I know for sure that my rec letters helped get me interviews--and jobs, for that matter. Especially at schools with impersonal secondary prompts, good rec letters help adcoms see what kind of person you are.

 

[Frazier]

Are you not concerned about anonymity in these forums, mark?

 

[jkm111]

According to the AAMC, on a 5 point scale of importance your LORs are a 3.3 in terms of getting an interview and a 3.7 for getting an acceptance afterwards.

where did you find this?

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

He had is real name in his mdapps profile. I was just pointing that out in case he wasn't aware of it. He changed the profile now, so yes, he was unaware.

 

[Frazier]

He had is real name in his mdapps profile. I was just pointing that out in case he wasn't aware of it. He changed the profile now, so yes, he was unaware.

He is now aware. GJDM

 

[BenjaminT]

Many people are going to have general LOR, and this probably won't hurt or help. Bad ones are terrible, since it means that you don't even know three people who will say good things about you. Also, put yourself in the position of a college professor with some pre-med who comes to you and asks you for a LOR. I would have to REALLY hate a kid and think that he was the scum of the earth to look at him and say, "Yes, I'll write you a letter of recommendation" only with the intention of sinking his dreams.

Also, great find on the holistic review pdf.

 

[DrDrummer]

He is now aware. GJDM

OMFGz, but he still links to his Facebook profile! FEATURING HIS REAL NAME!!11oneshiftone


Anonymity, compromised. Chances of acceptance = lessthanzero.

 

[raltima07]

What about committee letters? They aren't very personal, but would the highest recommendation from a school make up for that?

 

[NickNaylor]

I'm gunna go with not very important.

 

[TheKingofClay]

i think you should do it if you need to get to the min req of at least 3 LORs

 

[Techmed07]

According to the AAMC, on a 5 point scale of importance your LORs are a 3.3 in terms of getting an interview and a 3.7 for getting an acceptance afterwards.

This should be stickied... This would answer soo many questions.

 

[GaStu1994]

According to the AAMC, on a 5 point scale of importance your LORs are a 3.3 in terms of getting an interview and a 3.7 for getting an acceptance afterwards.

The link you provided was broken, so here is an updated link to the same document (for 2011). https://www.aamc.org/download/261106/data/aibvol11_no6.pdf

 

[ReneeM]

What about how many LORs you have? If the school had 3 minimum and 6 maximum, would you be better of with 1 great committee letter and a doc letter or adding a few mediocre letters?

 

[PCwizCube]

One of my professors this semester really seemed to engage well with me and I did very well (A+) in his class. I think he thinks highly of me, but English is his 2nd (3rd?) language and its quite obvious to anyone speaking to him that his English skills are far weaker than his scientific skills. Would it be a bad idea to seek a letter from someone who has poor English?

I had asked a Professor X for a rec whose English was not his/her first language. Prof X told me that he/she was aware his/her English was not "very pretty" and actually would ask a native speaker to look over them to clean them up. Not sure if this is something that you would feel comfortable asking your professor, but it might be worth it.

 

[gyngyn]

What about how many LORs you have? If the school had 3 minimum and 6 maximum, would you be better of with 1 great committee letter and a doc letter or adding a few mediocre letters?

A committee letter is preferred. Additional letters are not necessary.