How much do LORs matter?

[HughMyron]

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Compared to GPA/MCAT/ECs?

I'm fairly certain that excellent LORs were what got me into med school, but I see a lot of people saying LORs are useless formalities. Who is right?

 

[Fakhter]

How much do shoe laces matter on your shoes? Sure you can still wear the shoes and maybe even get around but they wont be comfortable and will suffer wear and tear much faster

 

[phunky]

LizzyM has said that most don't make much of a difference, so I'd say really stellar ones from people in significant positions are where you can get some extra points on your application

 

[MusicJunkie]

This is a study posted by Tara (Executive Director at UA Phoenix Med) in response to a question I asked about the importance of interviews in admissions decisions.

The study states that post interview, Letters of Recommendations are the second most important factor, behind interview performance, to admissions committee members. Pre-interview, they are the fourth most important factor.

https://www.aamc.org/download/261106/data/aibvol11_no6.pdf

 

[bollywoodlover]

I think it depends who they are from. A LOR from someone in a significant position at one of the med schools you apply to will most certainly help a lot for admission into that specific med school. The regular positive LOR from a prof I doubt does much to your app unless of course it's a bad one.

 

[chillaxbro]

..

 

[eDITN]

Probably depends on the school and how they evaluate applicants pre/post-interview. From what I've heard, they are probably neutral in most circumstances. If you have solid LORs, they probably won't hurt or help you much in the process. However, bad LORs will certainly hurt (or those from people who really don't know you well at all). Great LORs will probably help a lot. For most people, however, your letters probably fall somewhere in the middle.

 

[MedPR]

Compared to GPA/MCAT/ECs?

I'm fairly certain that excellent LORs were what got me into med school, but I see a lot of people saying LORs are useless formalities. Who is right?

I think they're useful for taking borderline applicants over the hump. Beyond that, I doubt they are very significant.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

 

[La Presse]

LoRs that come from dynamic, well-known individuals supersede ordinary letters from people of little or of no importance. This designation will probably depend on the school or who evaluates your application and might even become an issue of politics.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

LoRs that come from dynamic, well-known individuals supersede ordinary letters from people of little or of no importance. This designation will probably depend on the school or who evaluates your application and might even become an issue of politics.

You're forgetting to take letter quality into account. Just getting a letter from a famous professor that boils down to "this guy took my class one semester, got an "A", that's about it really" isn't going to impress anyone. The letters actually need to have substance. Now if you get an enthusiastic letter from a famous scientist, then yeah, that takes you an extra mile, but most people aren't going to have that because it's almost impossible to get to know those people well enough for good LORs. What matters is what the letters say.

 

[kmp0410]

I wonder this too, I haven't done research and was never one to go to office hours. I'm much more of a "I'll figure it out" kinda guy.

Now I've been out of undergrad 2 years, and my Grad Program is online. The LORs are what I am most worried about, because I'm basically just going to have to email random professors and see what I can get.

Does anyone have any tips for someone in my situation? I understand sending Resume, personal statement, etc. I would like to offer to meet in person, but it will be tough as I don't live in the city where I attended/attend school.

 

[yellowfish]

Stats are most important pre-interview. Interview performance is the most important post-interview (unremarkably) but LORs then become the second most important consideration following interview performance.

From a study on admissions committees.

 

[HughMyron]

You're forgetting to take letter quality into account. Just getting a letter from a famous professor that boils down to "this guy took my class one semester, got an "A", that's about it really" isn't going to impress anyone. The letters actually need to have substance. Now if you get an enthusiastic letter from a famous scientist, then yeah, that takes you an extra mile, but most people aren't going to have that because it's almost impossible to get to know those people well enough for good LORs. What matters is what the letters say.

It's possible to get to know people that well if you're not a science major!

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

It's possible to get to know people that well if you're not a science major!

How does not being a science major make getting to know famous science faculty easier? 😕

 

[yellowfish]

LoRs that come from dynamic, well-known individuals supersede ordinary letters from people of little or of no importance. This designation will probably depend on the school or who evaluates your application and might even become an issue of politics.

This is a non-issue for 99.9% of applicants.

What the letter writer's position is and relation to you matters, who they are does not.

 

[Euxox]

What the letter writer's position is and relation to you matters, who they are does not.

Who they are most certainly does matter, just not as much as what they are able to say about you in the letter.

Solid rec from a nobel laureate >>> solid rec from junior level faculty, every time.

 

[yellowfish]

Who they are most certainly does matter, just not as much as what they are able to say about you in the letter.

Solid rec from a nobel laureate >>> solid rec from junior level faculty, every time.

Like I already said, this is a non-issue for 99.9% of applicants. Actually, your example is irrelevant to essentially any medical school applicant and that is not helpful.

I will repeat myself: for >99.9% of applicants, who your letter writer "is" does not matter.

 

[Aerus]

I think the general saying is that, letters don't really affect your application much, unless it's a really good letter or a really bad letter. Most people, I assume have okay letters that talk about how academically accomplished a certain person was in a class or how hard they work. I can't imagine LORs affect your application significantly if that's all they talk about.

 

[Trastuz]

Who they are most certainly does matter, just not as much as what they are able to say about you in the letter.

Solid rec from a nobel laureate >>> solid rec from junior level faculty, every time.

Unless your letter writer says "I'm a Nobel laureate" no one will know that s/he's famous. Even then I wouldn't care really. Docs from the same field might know someone who is well known in that field, otherwise it's just another name. Your prof is not that famous, contrary to what you believe.

When I review apps I only care if they say anything bad or even borderline bad, which happens more often than you would think. Otherwise they're all pretty similar, "Jonny was an excellent pipetter" or "Lindsay always asked really good questions."

 

[MedPR]

Who they are most certainly does matter, just not as much as what they are able to say about you in the letter.

Solid rec from a nobel laureate >>> solid rec from junior level faculty, every time.

Only if the content of the letters is equivalent.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Only if the content of the letters is equivalent.

Yes the LOR must win an award to be considered. Kidding.

 

[HughMyron]

How does not being a science major make getting to know famous science faculty easier? 😕

Seminar classes mean tons of professor contact.

 

[cinamin]

Unless your letter writer says "I'm a Nobel laureate" no one will know that s/he's famous. Even then I wouldn't care really. Docs from the same field might know someone who is well known in that field, otherwise it's just another name. Your prof is not that famous, contrary to what you believe.

When I review apps I only care if they say anything bad or even borderline bad, which happens more often than you would think. Otherwise they're all pretty similar, "Jonny was an excellent pipetter" or "Lindsay always asked really good questions."

hahahaha say what?

 

[HughMyron]

hahahaha say what?

I know what Freud would say...

 

[MedPR]

Seminar classes mean tons of professor contact.

Really? "Seminar" classes at my undergrad meant no interaction with anyone except wikipedia and pubmed.

 

[HughMyron]

Really? "Seminar" classes at my undergrad meant no interaction with anyone except wikipedia and pubmed.

I'm talking about stuff like History, Philosophy, English seminars, which I don't think would use Pubmed. What we would do is everyone would do the reading that the teacher assigned, then we would discuss it with each other.

 

[gookies]

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