How mandatory is a humanities letter of rec?

[tim_freddie]

I'm part of a full ride scholarship, and the scholarship director will write me a letter of rec.
My research PI/taught me a bioengineering class will write me a letter of rec.
My orgo 2 prof will write me a letter of rec.
A doctor whom I shadow often will write me a letter of rec.
I'll be studying abroad next semester and someone from there will write me a letter.

So I will have 5 total letters... Do I even need to bother with a humanities letter?

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[dr_kateb]

Most schools want one non science letter.

 

[capriccio]

Depends on the school—some will not care and only require at least 1 science letter, others will specifically say they want a non-science LOR, and in that case yeah you're going to need one.

 

[OchemOficionado]

I used a math letter as my “non-science” and the topic it never came up.

 

[whitetopaz]

Short answer: no, a humanities letter isn't necessarily required, but it depends on the schools to which you are applying.

Does your school have a pre-health advising committee? If so, you're going to want a committee letter from them. A lot of MD schools prefer or even require a committee letter if at all possible, and not having one can reflect negatively on you. As far as committee letters go, each school has its own criteria, which that criteria takes precedence over the standard "one science, one non-science, etc." requirements of individual schools. You can think of a committee letter as an extremely versatile LOR.

 

[907914]

Every single school I will be applying to asks for a non-science letter that can either be filled by humanities professor, advisor, research PI, employer...They basically just want a letter from someone who was not a science professor, not necessarily a humanities letter

 

[965978]

A lot of schools don’t care about having a humanities letter. Iapplied to 23 schools and only 1 wanted a humanities.

Most schools follow the following format:

2 Science + (1 of your choice).

Emory, BU, Dartmouth, Tufts, SLU, USC, Hofstra, and UCI don’t require a Humanities letter (and that’s just off the top of my head).

 

[965978]

Let’s keep in mind that a humanities letter is a non-science letter. But a non-science letter doesn’t have to be a humanities letter. So if a school wants a non-science letter, it can be work-related or volunteer-related.

 

[tim_freddie]

Short answer: no, a humanities letter isn't necessarily required, but it depends on the schools to which you are applying.

Does your school have a pre-health advising committee? If so, you're going to want a committee letter from them. A lot of MD schools prefer or even require a committee letter if at all possible, and not having one can reflect negatively on you. As far as committee letters go, each school has its own criteria, which that criteria takes precedence over the standard "one science, one non-science, etc." requirements of individual schools. You can think of a committee letter as an extremely versatile LOR.

My school (IU) doesn't have an advising committee LOR... Do you think that will negatively affect me?

 

[907914]

My school (IU) doesn't have an advising committee LOR... Do you think that will negatively affect me?

No it will not negatively affect you. Admissions committees look for advising committee letters if your school has them but if your school doesn’t than three LORs will suffice

 

[whitetopaz]

No it will not negatively affect you. Admissions committees look for advising committee letters if your school has them but if your school doesn’t than three LORs will suffice

What this guy said.

 

[chemdoctor]

I used a math letter as my “non-science” and the topic it never came up.

Really? I thought math would count as science since math classes are part of science GPA...

 

[2019App]

Some schools specifically request one non-science (or humanities) professor, not just an employer or volunteer coordinator. For example, if you don't have a committee letter for Jefferson, they request "If individual letters are sent, we prefer one biology, one chemistry, one physics and one humanities.".

 

[drtribbiani]

A related question: can you make your non-science letter be from someone you work with (ei. your boss)? Does it have to be an academic letter?

 

[chemdoctor]

A related question: can you make your non-science letter be from someone you work with (ei. your boss)? Does it have to be an academic letter?

I think it depends on the school. Some schools will mandate that it come from an academic person while others will say it doesn’t matter. I know for a school I’ll be applying to next year, it said science and a “character letter”

 

[dr_kateb]

Really? I thought math would count as science since math classes are part of science GPA...

It does. It just shows how little adcoms really care about letters of rec. It’s in my opinion the most pointless part of the process.

 

[OchemOficionado]

Really? I thought math would count as science since math classes are part of science GPA...

AAMC does include math in the science gpa, but the DO app doesn’t for some reason and I was of the mind that math is generally not considered a science. I asked around and the consensus was that it would be fine so I went with it.