Letter of Rec from non-PhD non-science professor

[trane17]

I'm planning on applying this upcoming cycle and was hoping you guys could give me some advice regarding who to ask for my non-science rec letter?

I took a communications class with a non-PhD, part-time faculty member last semester and did well, and I feel like I established good rapport with that professor. But I've heard that it might hurt to have someone with only an MA write the recommendation. I could also ask my history professor from this semester who has a PhD, but I've only been meeting with her since about two months ago and I feel like I know the other professor better. Does the professor/instructor's degree make a significant difference in how med schools will look at the LOR? Thanks.

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[DameJulie]

I asked my pre-med adviser the same question, and they said it's best to have PhD degree professors to write your LOR because they can comment on your potential to complete a doctoral degree. I wouldn't use the MA professor's letter unless you have no other options for PhD professor and your MA professor is the strongest.

 

[trane17]

I asked my pre-med adviser the same question, and they said it's best to have PhD degree professors to write your LOR because they can comment on your potential to complete a doctoral degree. I wouldn't use the MA professor's letter unless you have no other options for PhD professor and your MA professor is the strongest.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[curbsideconsult]

I'm planning on applying this upcoming cycle and was hoping you guys could give me some advice regarding who to ask for my non-science rec letter?

I took a communications class with a non-PhD, part-time faculty member last semester and did well, and I feel like I established good rapport with that professor. But I've heard that it might hurt to have someone with only an MA write the recommendation. I could also ask my history professor from this semester who has a PhD, but I've only been meeting with her since about two months ago and I feel like I know the other professor better. Does the professor/instructor's degree make a significant difference in how med schools will look at the LOR? Thanks.

Hate to muddy the waters, but I kinda disagree. However, you don't need to pick and choose! You can have them all write letters to your committee.

How many letters does your committee want? I sent my committee 6 (if I remember correctly) and they ran the gamut from PhD's to volunteer coordinators. I asked for letters from people who knew me well, who could attest to my academic work, overall work ethic, and passion to become a physician.

I saved my "best" one for outside the committee and asked my letter writer to submit directly to AMCAS.

If AMCAS hasn't changed too much, your committee letter plus the LORs they attach to the committee letter counts as ONE submission.

 

[moggat]

As far as I can tell; schools want LOR for two reasons: 1) to have someone else verify that youre not a sociopath and speak to your character and potential to be an interesting, dedicated physician and 2) to give them a more "unbiased" view of how you compare to all of your peers and other students that they've taught. Reason 2 is why it's better to have a PhD write your letter because it's ASSUMED that a PhD will have more experience in academia and teaching and therefore have a better grasp of how you stand up to your peers. An adjunct with an MA most likely doesn't have the same teaching experience to compare you against. (That said PhDs are very different from MDs; they're not going to necessarily know what getting an MD entails and furthermore, humanities PhDs are very different from science PhDs)

However, I think that a letter from a professor who can speak to what an interesting, driven, and thoughtful student you are is going to be superior to the one that just confirms that the grade you reported on AMCAS is really correct. Since they're asking for a letter from a non-science professor, it's clear they're not looking for an objective evaluation as a scientist--they want to know what you're like. If you're really worried about it, ask both to send a letter to the committee, but if I were you--just ask the one you know better.