How much does a mediocre LOR affect an application?

[asterok]

Hello, I'm not applying this cycle but I'm worrying about who to ask for LORs. My school (Duke) does a committee letter where they require 1 science professor, 1 mentor (from research or volunteering or some EC) and 1 of your choice. I'm pretty sure of who I'd like to ask for 2 of my recommenders, but I'm worried about the science letter. I'm not a science major so all of my science classes have all been the larger premed ones.

I have been good about going to office hours and staying after class regularly for one bio professor/had lunch with them, etc., and when I asked, he was very nice and told me he could write me a letter about my class performance and interests/meetings during office hours but it wouldn't be as strong as a letter he would've written for me if I was in a small seminar class with him, so I'm a bit unsure of getting a letter from him. After I asked, he said he was open to meeting with me to discuss my resume/CV in the future before the letter is due.

Would a generic letter from the aforementioned professor be a red flag or would it be okay? I've seen people ask similar questions but they usually go to very large schools and therefore have more of a reason for not being able to connect with professors more, so I'm pretty worried. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

What do your prehealth advisors say about your situation? It seems like the professor is making good faith efforts to know you better. You have had plenty of opportunities to connect with your other science professors, so why this one?

 

[asterok]

Welcome to the forums.

What do your prehealth advisors say about your situation? It seems like the professor is making good faith efforts to know you better. You have had plenty of opportunities to connect with your other science professors, so why this one?

Thank you very much for your response. I actually have a meeting with my prehealth advisor coming up soon and am hoping to get her feedback on this as well.

I think it's because I was especially interested in this course's content and its real-world applications, so I made much more of an effort to talk with the professor as opposed to say, my orgo or physics professor who I really only interacted with to ask for help with problems alongside other many students.

I'm also planning on taking a couple of smaller science seminars next semester in topics I'm very interested in, so I hope to connect more with those professors too.