Letter of Rec from Community College Prof?

[gummybeargal]

Hi guys,

I graduated Dec 2016 and taking some time off from school to give my app more edge. I currently have one letter of rec from my former Biochem prof who I TAed for. He doesn't really even know me very well, but hey, at least I TA'ed for the dude. I did well in all my science classes but unfortunately never got close enough to any of them. I also didn't realize I wanted to do medicine until later so getting close to them wasn't really in the front of my mind.

Anyways, I hope to have three letters minimum. Two science and one extracurricular. Hoping to get the non-science one from a doctor or research mentor in the upcoming years.

As for the other science letter, I was hoping to take Anatomy at my local community college. It is said to be a very tough class, and I'd have the opportunity to be a "cadaver TA" for future anatomy lab sections. I hope to get close to the prof and have him write my letter for med school. He is a Berkeley PhD and has been teaching at my CC for years now. I have also never taken Anatomy.

My question is.... does it look bad to have a science letter from a community college? Do adcoms look for professors who are working at 4 year universities? Does it work against me? Or, who should I get my last science letter from?

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[TheBiologist]

if you have both from CC and a 4 year you should be fine

 

[workaholic181]

Hi guys,

I graduated Dec 2016 and taking some time off from school to give my app more edge. I currently have one letter of rec from my former Biochem prof who I TAed for. He doesn't really even know me very well, but hey, at least I TA'ed for the dude. I did well in all my science classes but unfortunately never got close enough to any of them. I also didn't realize I wanted to do medicine until later so getting close to them wasn't really in the front of my mind.

Anyways, I hope to have three letters minimum. Two science and one extracurricular. Hoping to get the non-science one from a doctor or research mentor in the upcoming years.

As for the other science letter, I was hoping to take Anatomy at my local community college. It is said to be a very tough class, and I'd have the opportunity to be a "cadaver TA" for future anatomy lab sections. I hope to get close to the prof and have him write my letter for med school. He is a Berkeley PhD and has been teaching at my CC for years now. I have also never taken Anatomy.

My question is.... does it look bad to have a science letter from a community college? Do adcoms look for professors who are working at 4 year universities? Does it work against me? Or, who should I get my last science letter from?

I have 1 from a CC and 3 from 4 years profs. 2 II so far so I don't think it was a big deal. We were really tight too so I imagine that letter has helped my app thus far.

If you love the class and develope a relationship with the prof, those are the most important things.

 

[gummybeargal]

I have 1 from a CC and 3 from 4 years profs. 2 II so far so I don't think it was a big deal. We were really tight too so I imagine that letter has helped my app thus far.

If you love the class and develope a relationship with the prof, those are the most important things.

You also have 3 from university professors, which I can imagine balances it out quite well


Also... do you think adcoms care about the degree of the prof? For example, at my CC there are tons of teachers who have "only" a Masters but I've been told they are great instructors

 

[workaholic181]

You also have 3 from university professors, which I can imagine balances it out quite well


Also... do you think adcoms care about the degree of the prof? For example, at my CC there are tons of teachers who have "only" a Masters but I've been told they are great instructors

@Goro could answer this far better than I.

But if I had to wager I'd say yes, a letter from a Ph.D looks better than from an MS

 

[Goro]

My question is.... does it look bad to have a science letter from a community college?
No.

Do adcoms look for professors who are working at 4 year universities?
No


Does it work against me?
No



Or, who should I get my last science letter from?
Whoever knows you the best and can write a good LOR.