Is my PI my volunteer supervisor?

[omegaz]

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So the medical school requires 2 faculty/professor LOR and 1 LOR from your work/volunteer supervisor. I have no trouble finding professors but I can't find a supervisor to write me a LOR. My work supervisor is not replying to my email (it's been a week) and my volunteer supervisor doesn't know me well enough. I volunteered at a professor's lab for 2 years. Can I use him as my work/volunteer supervisor even though he's a faculty/professor? The professor's technician directly supervised me, is she a better person to ask even though she too is a faculty?

Should I send another email to my work supervisor and ask her what's up?

 

[hydroxyurea]

Being faculty should not exclude them from being listed as your work supervisor, as long as they talk primarily about your performance related to employment and not in regards to academics. It would be best if you can get a LOR from somebody in a clinical environment or significant volunteer experience though.

 

[allantois]

Medical schools that require letters beyond academic ones, want a character letter, in which case a PI will suffice. It's very strange for them to specifically ask for a volunteer/work supervisor.

 

[omegaz]

Medical schools that require letters beyond academic ones, want a character letter, in which case a PI will suffice. It's very strange for them to specifically ask for a volunteer/work supervisor.

I forgot to mention an important thing. One of my LOR is already written by a PI. I have 2 PI's. One that I did research under for credits and the other's strictly volunteering.

 

[hydroxyurea]

So you have 3 LOR...
LOR1: previous PI, research for credits
LOR2: "new PI" for volunteer
LOR3: ?? coursework professor ??

Why do you need precisely "3" letters?

Are these being compiled to a committee letter? Then get like 5 total letters, or ask them how many they want. 3 is kind of slim.

 

[allantois]

What's usually required is 2 science faculty and one non science, or a committee letter in place of individual faculty letters.

Some schools may also require 2 character letters. It's fine for them to be written by two PhD PIs. What's important is that they are the strongest letters you can get.

Volunteering and doing research for credit is all the same for the purposes of applying to med school. The difference is that in the later case you technically pay to do it.

 

[omegaz]

So you have 3 LOR...
LOR1: previous PI, research for credits
LOR2: "new PI" for volunteer
LOR3: ?? coursework professor ??

Why do you need precisely "3" letters?

Are these being compiled to a committee letter? Then get like 5 total letters, or ask them how many they want. 3 is kind of slim.

Basically the medical school requires 3 letters. 2 from professors/faculty and 1 from work/volunteer supervisor. I am wondering if it's acceptable to use 2 PI letters and a coursework professor's letter.