Letter of Rec Question

[lawler4]

So when I was collecting my letters of recommendation, I was planning on applying to MD/PhD programs. I have since changed my aim to MD only programs. I collected five letters altogether. Two of them I am sure would be universal for MD or MD/PhD, two of them are questionable in terms of how universal they are, and one is definitely tailored more towards MD/PhD. My question is, if I were to use one of my questionable letters (the letter itself I believe focuses on me as a person, student, worker, etc. but I'm not ruling out the fact that the word MD/PhD may appear in the letter), would that hurt me as an applicant? It's a very strong letter aside from that I believe, so I'd hate to have something simple like that hold me back.

Thanks

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[ucsfstudents]

You have a few options depending on your time frame.
1) Ask the letter writer to send an updated version of the letter. The letter writer can still mention your research skills and potential future contribution, but can leave out the md/phd part. Or they could say this student would make an excellent MD or MD/PhD, etc.
2) Say you were/are still considering MD/PhD programs and might apply to it as a first year medical student (if it's brought up during the interview)
3) Don't use the letter

In some schools, if your application is research heavy, they might pair you up with a clinical researcher and you might be compared to other applicants who also have research heavy emphasis, in the spirit of having a diverse group of students, your contribution being the "research" contribution. So be careful how you sell yourself.

Good luck!

 

[lawler4]

The thing is, the questionable letter I want to use was marked as confidential, so I don't know what it says. It may have MD/PhD written in it, or it may not at all. When I talked to the professor about writing it, he specifically said he would not talk about my research in it, so pretty much I'm just hoping there's no sentences like "John Doe would be perfect with a Dual Degree." Still, I'll go ahead and talk to the professor that wrote it.

 

[ucsfstudents]

Hope it all works out!