Letter of Rec from Asst. Professor vs. Full Professor

[Mariolee]

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Hey guys, so I'm in between a rock and a hard place. So far I have a letter of rec from one science professor, one non-science (English) professor, one physician I work with, and one from my research's project scientist. I just needed one more letter from another science prof, and I asked back in January. Since then we've had emails back and forth but for the last month and a half he just disappeared and stopped responding since summer started.

I started freaking out since I had secondaries and some of them wanted me submit them within two weeks to a month. Thus, I sent a mass email to all of my previous sci profs and fortunately one lady who taught my Physiology class responded.

However, she prefaced by saying she is only an Asst. Professor and that I may be looking for a full/senior professor (which the person I originally asked was).

TLDR: Do medical schools care if the letter of rec comes from an assistant professor vs. a regular full professor? I'm guessing yes, but if you could provide more details that'd be great.

 

[anonymoose1640]

n=1 but I had a couple science letters from associate professors (associate is one step above assistant) and no one cared, or if they did they didn't say so. My non-science letter writer wasn't even a professor, her title is "lecturer".

I think it's better to have a great letter from a lower ranking prof than a meh letter from a senior prof.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

[AdmiralChz]

I am inclined to agree on this one, but a letter from a big name (for example, a department chairman) can be a huge deal especially for a local school.

If you are applying broadly around the country more in-depth letters that get more at YOU rather than a standard draft from a big name would be more helpful, in my opinion.

 

[Goro]

Oh, fer crying out loud! IT DOESN'T MATTER!! I see LORs from TAs all the time, to illustrate.

However, she prefaced by saying she is only an Asst. Professor and that I may be looking for a full/senior professor (which the person I originally asked was).

TLDR: Do medical schools care if the letter of rec comes from an assistant professor vs. a regular full professor? I'm guessing yes, but if you could provide more details that'd be great.

 

[jd989898]

Lol wouldn't be surprised if she's just trying to get out of writing a LOR.

 

[619959]

Oh, fer crying out loud! IT DOESN'T MATTER!! I see LORs from TAs all the time, to illustrate.

We can actually get a letter from the TA (even when he/she is a grad student?) Or, does it need to be signed by a professor along with the TA's signature?

 

[avgn]

We can actually get a letter from the TA (even when he/she is a grad student?) Or, does it need to be signed by a professor along with the TA's signature?

Co-signed is better but not a huge deal if the prof doesn't want to sign on or write it

 

[Goro]

This.

There is this delusion amongst pre-meds that the higher up the food chain, the more weight the LOR has. But really, the higher you get, the less likely the person is to know how well you can handle med school. I've seen LORs from US senators, and Nobel laureates. They fail to help marginal applicants. I'd rather see an LOR from a Chemistry prof than a clinical Dep't Chair or a dean.

Co-signed is better but not a huge deal if the prof doesn't want to sign on or write it

 

[Mariolee]

Thanks for the responses guys. However, I think...

Lol wouldn't be surprised if she's just trying to get out of writing a LOR.

...this is most likely what's going on lol but again I don't have much of a choice.