Importance of LORs

[alpha]

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Hi everybody, I'm from Canada, and fairly new to this game. What are the opinions out there on how important LORs are? The reason I ask is that I have been out of school for 4 years now, and while I can still get a pretty positive one from a prof I did a project with, I don't know other profs well, and would probably only be able to get one or two to write letters that are neither positive nor negative (ie-very objective, not too insightful).

I can also get great supplementary LORs from a couple of work supervisors (both in research), and volunteering - are these looked at with much weight? I know no one really knows, but what do you think are %estimates of how much weight LORs carry on the whole application? The rest of my application ( I think, hope) is fairly strong. Should I bother applying?

 

[CalBeE]

I think 1-2 strong letters and a few positive (not neccessarily strong) letters will be fine.

 

[alpha]

mmm... Kal-Bee, and bee-byun-bub (smacks lips).

Do you mean positive letters from profs or from the total package? Do the prof letters carry more weight than supplementaries?

Wow, I can't believe how fast this board moves...

 

[CalBeE]

Originally posted by alpha
mmm... Kal-Bee, and bee-byun-bub (smacks lips).

Do you mean positive letters from profs or from the total package? Do the prof letters carry more weight than supplementaries?

Wow, I can't believe how fast this board moves...

Every school does it differently, for my school, there is no committee letter, so I mail in the letters to the schools. Some committee letters actually quote from the prof's letters.

LOR's are just part of the app, it gives adcom some information, as do supplementaries (Secondaries)

 

[TTSD]

Great letters help, especially from famous people or people who are cozy with the board, "We're only giving you this interview because XX wrote you such a great letter but otherwise we would have found your application to be uncompetitive.." is a reponse a friend of mine got at an interview.

But nothing kills your application faster than a bad letter.

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by alpha
mmm... Kal-Bee, and bee-byun-bub (smacks lips).

Do you mean positive letters from profs or from the total package? Do the prof letters carry more weight than supplementaries?

Wow, I can't believe how fast this board moves...

nice use of the korean food vocabulary.
you now make me hungrier. thanks.

what i can tell you is that less than positive letters are harmful. my friend is on an adcom and the applicant was like untouchable when it came to numbers but the lor did mention that the prof didnt think he had the social capacity to deal with people compared to other premeds he has seen so that led to a rejection.

 

[CalBeE]

Originally posted by jlee9531
nice use of the korean food vocabulary.
you now make me hungrier. thanks.

what i can tell you is that less than positive letters are harmful. my friend is on an adcom and the applicant was like untouchable when it came to numbers but the lor did mention that the prof didnt think he had the social capacity to deal with people compared to other premeds he has seen so that led to a rejection.

That's back-stabbing! Since this is an anonymous forum, all my LOR writers (5 of them) agreed to let me see their letters, even though only 4 of them remembered to do so. I made such there's nothing bad in them 😛

 

[jlee9531]

i guess the prof was just being honest.

but another reason why i dont ask profs and people that do not know me well to write an LOR. you never know what you are gonna get.