If you had to choose between these two letter writers....

[Lombax]

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If you had to choose a letter from someone who had interacted with you in a health care setting, would you choose...

Director of Disease Management in a rural clinic who you spent four years volunteering with at health fairs, education seminars to high schools etc.

or

MD/Prof of Medicine you observed at clinic 120+ hours over roughly a 3 week period.

I know content is what is important, and one should pick the writer who can speak towards your motivation/ability to become a doctor more. But if everything else was the same, as in they both could equally convey these ideas, who would you go with? I was thinking maybe it might be better if a physician said I was deserving since they understand what it takes to become a physician? 😳

And in this scenario, the other writers would be 1 science prof, and 1 nonscience prof. Any ideas which of the two should be the 3rd letter writer?

 

[Richzz89]

Why not get both? I believe you can have usually anywhere between 3 and 5 letters, usually 2 science, 1 non-science, and 1 or 2 extracurriculars/activities. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[DrSmooth]

If you could only pick one, I would pick the guy you volunteered with for 4 years. It would look very strange to have that long of a commitment and not receive a letter. But why not get both? Also, are you saying you will only have 3 letters total? I believe you are supposed to have 5: 1 committee/program letter, 2 science, 2 clinical/research/non-science (some combo of the 3). And I think 6 letters is also fine for most schools if you have a good reason.

 

[Sammich117]

Why not get both? I believe you can have usually anywhere between 3 and 5 letters, usually 2 science, 1 non-science, and 1 or 2 extracurriculars/activities. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I had to turn in 6 letters to my pre-med committee to include in my letter, so I'd say get both.

 

[ducki303]

I would suggest requesting one from both of them and figuring out which one of the two you would like to send to programs later on. There's nothing wrong with sort of building your letter of recommendation bank.

I can't recall exactly which programs request which letters, but they usually request 3-5 letters. 1 committee/program letter, 2 science, 2 clinical/research/non-science (some combo of the 3)... Seems to cover all the bases and are a good measure of what kinda letters you should keep in your bank. If you are considering applying to a DO program, many of them so ask for a letter from a DO physician. Keep in mind that an MD who knows you well is better than a DO you've just met.

 

[Lombax]

Oops, sorry I should have been more clear. 😳 I will actually have in my AMCAS bank 9 total writers, so for different schools (that allow it) I will send more. But for this particular school, Virginia Commonwealth U, I was given the impression a max of 3 should be sent. So my question was more along the lines of, if a school requires 3, two from faculty that has taught you and lastly one from health care background, which of those two should be used for the 3rd letter.

 

[Lombax]

Also, the schools would be MD, and I don't have a pre-med committee.

 

[ducki303]

I would choose the MD. It's a hard call, since it's just a 3 week exposure, but like you said, it would be good to have one MD put in their vote for you.

What does everyone else think?