How important are LORs from shadowed physicians?

[Statefan]

Let's say I have a good bit of shadowing hours from different physicians, but I already have 4 to 5 LORs from professors and advisers, and I believe these are stronger than the LORs I could attain from the physicians I shadowed.

It is frowned upon not to have a rec detailing your clinical experience? I could get a rec from one of the physicians but I would be replacing a stronger rec (in my opinion)


Hope someone has a take on this!

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[dsoz]

You should have one. But you don't need more than one.

If you are applying DO, then you should have a DO. If you are also applying MD, you should have an MD too.

Other than that they don't need to be strong letters. Then letter that I got from my MD shadow (over 100 hours in the course of two years in Family Practice) was about a paragraph, and the best thing that he stated was that "I know dsoz well. He spent considerable time with me in my office." He showed me the letter before it was sent off.

I was still accepted at several schools.

dsoz

 

[theseeker4]

Let's say I have a good bit of shadowing hours from different physicians, but I already have 4 to 5 LORs from professors and advisers, and I believe these are stronger than the LORs I could attain from the physicians I shadowed.

It is frowned upon not to have a rec detailing your clinical experience? I could get a rec from one of the physicians but I would be replacing a stronger rec (in my opinion)


Hope someone has a take on this!

They are not necessary at all. Definitely do NOT replace a strong academic or research reference with a physician reference, unless a specific school you are applying to requires one (most DO require a DO reference).

 

[487806]

Let's say I have a good bit of shadowing hours from different physicians, but I already have 4 to 5 LORs from professors and advisers, and I believe these are stronger than the LORs I could attain from the physicians I shadowed.

It is frowned upon not to have a rec detailing your clinical experience? I could get a rec from one of the physicians but I would be replacing a stronger rec (in my opinion)


Hope someone has a take on this!

Shadowing letters are weak.

So at the end of the day, what makes a weak letter?
Letters written by people you shadow. Letters written by professors you took a class with and got an A with. Letters written by someone you worked for, but didn't get to know. Any letter that has only one or none of the three qualities I talked about is simply not worth getting. One major problem area that I have seen in the past is in research labs where someone will work primarily with grad students or post docs. It is perfectly fine for a post doc/graduate student to draft a LOR for a student for a PI or professor to edit and sign. There are risks and benefits of doing this, first the letter will be stronger because it will be more personable and will be able to go into more detail because of the nature of your relationship with the writer. At the same time, it will be limited because no post doc/grad student will speak for a professor/PI when it comes to over the top adulation. It is difficult to go nuts over a student when representing someone else.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I shadowed a number of physicians and did not get a letter of rec from any of them? What would they put after seeing you for a week or month tops? "John seems like a very nice kid......"

Doctor LORs are useless.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Let's say I have a good bit of shadowing hours from different physicians, but I already have 4 to 5 LORs from professors and advisers, and I believe these are stronger than the LORs I could attain from the physicians I shadowed.

It is frowned upon not to have a rec detailing your clinical experience? I could get a rec from one of the physicians but I would be replacing a stronger rec (in my opinion)


Hope someone has a take on this!

They're not all that necessary, but it's helpful to have one.

The most important thing about shadowing is that you shadow as many specialties as you can. That way you're exposed to multiple areas. If there's a physician whose office you spent more hours at than any other, then he would be the best person to request a LOR from, but they're not all that influential.

 

[exquisitemelody]

Take a look at the LOR requirements for the schools you plan on applying to. My state school requires an LOR from a physician (or at least strongly advises you to include one, but I had a friend who said the adcom office told him to get one so...I say required...)

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Take a look at the LOR requirements for the schools you plan on applying to. My state school requires an LOR from a physician (or at least strongly advises you to include one, but I had a friend who said the adcom office told him to get one so...I say required...)

Could this be found on the MSAR then?