I Think I'm In Deep **** (LOR)

[Double Bonded]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey guys,

I'm a senior who will be applying in the next cycle and I'm starting to get a little worried about my letters of recommendation, specifically, the ones from science professors.

I was a community college transfer and I'm a non-science major so I only took General Chemistry in cc. I transferred to a huge public school with a lot of students and I've had a hard time connecting with my professors on a "personal" level. I've gone to office hours consistently, I ask questions, and and I'm sure that 1-2 of them would recognize my face and I will start asking for letters at the beginning of next semester. But I'm worried that they don't know me well enough.

From the profs that could recognize me, one is an ochem professor and I got A's in both the semester in his classes and labs...the other is an Intro to Bio professor and I got a B in his class over the summer.

I don't have any research in the sciences b/c I work most of the week. And I'm worried about what might happen if one of them says that they can't write it b/c they don't know me well enough.

Any suggestions on what to do?


I would appreciate replies from people who have matriculated to medical school, are applying to medical school (this cycle), or adcoms (cat, lizzy, etc).

 

[tripwm]

E-mail your O-chem professor and the other you're thinking about. You will be one of their first contacts and request to set up a meeting to talk about your future. Make sure to bring your resume, and if finished, bring your MCAT scores/personal statement. You have plenty of time for getting LoR.

My honors O-chem professors couldn't recognize me, and one didn't believe I had taken to his class (he was on our pre-med committee) since I never met with him. I had an A, so I was just a name on a test to him.

 

[Total180]

I had a similar problem when it came to asking for LORs I was a Spanish major, so I only took the pre-req science classes, and they were fairly large and I was afraid they wouldn't know me well enough to write a letter. I chose the most recent professors I had taken a science class with to ensure that they would at least remember my face and my name. I e-mailed them and told them that I was applying to medical school, and was wondering if I might be able to set up a time to meet with them so I could talk to them a little more about my future plans, and talk about the possibility of an LOR. When I met with them, I brought with me a rough draft of my personal statement, a copy of my resume, and my unofficial transcript. I told them a little bit about me, and why I wanted to go into medicine, and explained that I really enjoyed their class and was hoping that they would be able to be a strong advocate for my application to medical school. Both science professors I approached said yes. One of them told me to write an LOR that I thought would be strong, and that he would add stuff to make it really good. I have, however, heard of people getting denied, and in that case just pick another teacher and try again. I am assuming the letters I got were good or at least adequate since I have been accepted. Good luck! Start early because it takes forever for some people to write the those letters.

 

[Barcu]

Hey guys,

I'm a senior who will be applying in the next cycle and I'm starting to get a little worried about my letters of recommendation, specifically, the ones from science professors.

I was a community college transfer and I'm a non-science major so I only took General Chemistry in cc. I transferred to a huge public school with a lot of students and I've had a hard time connecting with my professors on a "personal" level. I've gone to office hours consistently, I ask questions, and and I'm sure that 1-2 of them would recognize my face and I will start asking for letters at the beginning of next semester. But I'm worried that they don't know me well enough.

From the profs that could recognize me, one is an ochem professor and I got A's in both the semester in his classes and labs...the other is an Intro to Bio professor and I got a B in his class over the summer.

I don't have any research in the sciences b/c I work most of the week. And I'm worried about what might happen if one of them says that they can't write it b/c they don't know me well enough.

Any suggestions on what to do?


I would appreciate replies from people who have matriculated to medical school, are applying to medical school (this cycle), or adcoms (cat, lizzy, etc).

Well, you need some science reqs, so you gotta get those two profs.

Go in, meet with them, bring them your essays/resume/CV and talk to them a bit. I'm sure they have written many LORs before, so they should be able to do it and write good ones.

I've heard differing things about the importance of LORs (mostly that they can only really hurt you if someone says something bad). Having generic letters doesn't seem like the end of the world, and based on the threads I have seen on this forum, they are quite common.

If you have some good recs that are non-science, having a couple generic letters shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Pianoman MD]

I e-mailed them and told them that I was applying to medical school, and was wondering if I might be able to set up a time to meet with them so I could talk to them a little more about my future plans, and talk about the possibility of an LOR. When I met with them, I brought with me a rough draft of my personal statement, a copy of my resume, and my unofficial transcript. I told them a little bit about me, and why I wanted to go into medicine, and explained that I really enjoyed their class and was hoping that they would be able to be a strong advocate for my application to medical school. Both science professors I approached said yes.

This is EXACTLY what I did. I found that the professors were more than happy to write letters for me. I put all my information (pers statement, transcript, etc...) in a nice little packet, and they were very impressed. They both said that they would use the information to write a more personal letter of rec.

Bottom line is; You never know until you ask. If you secure letters of rec now, you'll be way ahead of most people.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[JJMrK]

Don't wait any longer; contact them now so you can make alternate plans if things don't work out.

 

[Catalystik]

E-mail ..... and request to set up a meeting to talk about your future. Make sure to bring your resume, and if finished, bring your MCAT scores/personal statement.

Also bring an unofficial copy of your transcript and maybe a photo to help them recall you after you leave the meeting. Ideally the meeting would be about half an hour long, so the prof can "get to know you" which results in a more personal touch to the letter if they agree to write it. Into the conversation perhaps insert reminders of contributions you made to class discussion, a cogent argument you'd made, or a mention of a project you did for the class, besides a reminder of your grade. It's important to ask at the end, "Do you feel you could write me a strong letter of support?" If they hem or haw in any way, or seem reluctant, or say it might take three months, then don't count on that letter being as glowing as you'd wish. Move on and ask someone else.

It's a very common problem in large schools with huge lecture halls that you don't get to know your professors personally. Why should professors go out of their way to help out someone they barely know? Because it reflects well on the reputation of the school to be able to report successful med school application statistics. This data helps attract other strong candidates to the school.

If you have any other option, I'd ask another faculty member where you earned an A in the class, since the primary reaon for the letter is to gain commentary on your academic prowess. If this means asking a TA, then so be it. Such a letter can still be of great value if their higher-level supervisor were to cosign the letter with their credentials added, or even without if the letter is strong enough.

If you need an LOR format to provide to a potential letter writer, let me know and I'll post it again. Most professors will have already done this many times and won't need one.

 

[vagueus]

Hey guys,

I'm a senior who will be applying in the next cycle and I'm starting to get a little worried about my letters of recommendation, specifically, the ones from science professors.

I was in a similar situation with the science LORs when I applied to med school.

I had 1 very strong letter and no good options for the 2nd, so I just limited myself to schools that would accept just 1 science LOR. I was a competitive applicant, so this worked out for me (barely) - I don't recommend it no matter how competitive you are, in retrospect.

I would stay far, far away from the professor you got a B from. A professor who gave you a B cannot honestly just say nice things about you - there's no way to win. Either he
a) praises you and the adcoms look at your transcript and see you got a B, in which case they realize he wasn't writing honestly and they might as well just disregard it, or
b) he's honest, in which case they can again ignore you because they have hundreds of other applicants who had only good things in their LORs.

Just start this next semester with the intent of making a good impression on your science professors. It's about more than just showing up for office hours - it's about being genuinely interested in the material and asking questions about how it all fits together. ("Why does this happen here, but not here?" as opposed to just "I don't understand this pathway.")

 

[Xadorus]

Well, I wouldn't worry too much. Get LOR from professors you did a A- or better. Most professors have a pre-written draft of a LOR where they just input some characteristics about you and how well you did. My bioinorganic professor wrote it right in front of me. Other closer professor, wrote a extensive one - but you never know what they will write, your not allowed to see it. Make sure to ask if they can write a STRONG letter of recommendation, if they hesitate at all, then decline their recommendation and thank them and move on to another. I agree with the others to give in a rough draft or your personal statement (if you have one, if not just tell them why medicine in person), transcript, resume, and anything else they might ask for.

But, I think the most important recommendation is from your pre-health committee letter. At my undergraduate school, I had to give my pre-health advisor 3+ recommendations and he or she wrote a pre-health committee letter which included 3 of my best recommendations. Not sure how it works at your school.

So you should get those recommendations + any other required materials into your advisor ASAP so they can start writing your committee letter. If your applying for 2012, I'd get all my recommendations to my advisor by Spring break (april). GL