Is this an acceptable LOR?

[Raskolnikov]

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I've got a question about LORs...I have a letter that I opted not to waive my right to read...waived the others but wasn't totally sure on this one since I only signed out with this pathologist for 4 days. So I saw the letter today...it's pretty short...about eight or nine sentences total. Is that adequate? One line refers to me as a "professional, competent" student. Now...does the word competent sound about as bad as average and satisfactory or am I just being overly critical of this? Also, I noticed several grammatical errors within the letter.
Any advice would be appreciated. My other three letters are going to be all pathologists...so I could ask for a letter from someone else...would an im or fp attending's letter be okay?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

 

[drPLUM]

8 or 9 sentences? This sounds suspect to me. Good thing you didn't waive your right to read it. I say drop it and go with an IM letter if you already have one from another pathologist. Although, I wouldn't say that I'm an expert on the matter since I'm only applying right now and haven't read any of my own letters.

 

[Brian Pavlovitz]

8 or 9 sentences? This sounds suspect to me. Good thing you didn't waive your right to read it. I say drop it and go with an IM letter if you already have one from another pathologist. Although, I wouldn't say that I'm an expert on the matter since I'm only applying right now and haven't read any of my own letters.

I tend to agree with drPLUM--8 to 9 sentences doesn't seem like enough for a LOR. The fact that you'll have 3 letters from Pathologists should be fine.
Bear in mind that I, too, am in the process of applying this year. For what it's worth, all of my letters are from Pathologists.

Good luck!

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Ditch the letter. Lukewarm letters with bad grammar will do you more harm than any good...even though it satisfies the requirement of a letter from a pathologist.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Thanks for the advice you guys. You're right and I'm going to drop that letter. So now I have two decent choices...an FP guy and an IM guy...IM probably looks better than FP but I worked with the FP guy very closely and I heard from another student who later worked with him that I came up in a conversation and he had some very nice things to say. When I worked with the IM guy, there were a group of 9 of us so I had less individual interaction with him. I'm sure an FP doesn't mean much to the PDs but is it the content of the letter or who's writing it that matters?
If all else fails, I'm going with my 9th grade biology teacher. 😀

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Thanks for the advice you guys. You're right and I'm going to drop that letter. So now I have two decent choices...an FP guy and an IM guy...IM probably looks better than FP but I worked with the FP guy very closely and I heard from another student who later worked with him that I came up in a conversation and he had some very nice things to say. When I worked with the IM guy, there were a group of 9 of us so I had less individual interaction with him. I'm sure an FP doesn't mean much to the PDs but is it the content of the letter or who's writing it that matters?
If all else fails, I'm going with my 9th grade biology teacher. 😀

Content is what ultimately matters. But the following scenarios are not good:
(1) Not having a path letter (but other letters are good).
(2) Having a path letter but it being lukewarm.

Well, I would prefer (1) over (2) but I would really really like to have one solid pathology letter.

When I applied, one of my letters (from IM) was strong. The other 3 were OK but good. None of them were 9 lines long and had poor grammar (and yes, I got to read my letters at my MGH interview cuz my friend was hosting me and he had my file).

 

[cytoborg]

I've got a question about LORs...I have a letter that I opted not to waive my right to read...waived the others but wasn't totally sure on this one since I only signed out with this pathologist for 4 days. So I saw the letter today...it's pretty short...about eight or nine sentences total. Is that adequate? One line refers to me as a "professional, competent" student. Now...does the word competent sound about as bad as average and satisfactory or am I just being overly critical of this? Also, I noticed several grammatical errors within the letter.
Any advice would be appreciated. My other three letters are going to be all pathologists...so I could ask for a letter from someone else...would an im or fp attending's letter be okay?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

AAAAHHHHH! Drop the letter! Huge red flag! 😱
Any letter that's anything besides glowing, superlative, excellent, fabulous, gushy, and dreamy should not be used. Good instinct reading the letter first.