Letter of recommendation requirement troubles from one specific school. Need advice

[DrippingNeverTripping]

Summary here: I am a neuroscience major that has applied to ~20 schools with four LORs from significant figures related to my academic and professional life. All the schools, except one, has accepted them. I have strong ties to this school and they have considered two of my LORs as non-compliant with their specific science letter requirements. One LOR was disqualified because it was from a science study abroad course, and another was deemed a research letter, not a science one. Me, a wee little premed, does not know if I want to escalate the issue to higher-ups in the admissions team or beg for a last-minute LOR from a less familiar professor

Hello all,

I am a neuroscience major and have applied to around 20 schools with 4 letter of recs.

1. is from a doctor who I closely work with in my clinical job
2. Is from the post-doc that I worked with in a research lab from freshman year till graduation
3. Is from a neuroscience professor who taught me an upper-level neuro course (is also the PI of the same lab but like 99% of our interactions/relationships were class-related)
4. Is from a neuroscience study abroad professor (taught a full summer credits worth of neuroscience courses during a study abroad program)

They all know me well and I am confident have written me glowing letters of rec. I also thought these LORs would fulfill the requirements for most schools. However, that has not been the case for literally only one school. This school is one I have strong ties to, has a high IS bias (I am IS), and one I would love to attend. They require multiple letters of rec with 2 of them being science-related and one of the science being from a major course. So I thought I was good. My science letter of recs are from Neuroscience classes and thus I have no problems - and for literally all of the other schools I have applied to, including ones with the same requirement, this has been the case. At this one school though, it seems that there is one person who goes through all the apps to ensure they are complete and gives the greenlight for it to be forwarded for revision by the rest of the team. When I submitted my secondary, I received an email from this person saying my fourth LOR doesn't count as a science letter because it is from a professor who taught me study abroad course and they need an "actual" BCPM course (word for word. like what??? I got neuroscience credits which contributed to my major and shows up on my transcript as any regular summer class. not to mention nowhere on their website do they state this among the plethora of other info on what LORs count and don't). Ok. Fine. I emailed a professor who taught me an upper level neuro class and knew me well both in and out of class and thankfully submitted the LOR within a week of my asking (cuz they're such a g) by which point I updated said medical school. Of course, this same person replied now informing me my first science letter (number 3) is actually a research letter and won't be accepted as a science letter. I mean this is just outrageous. I emailed the official school's email asking for an exemption on the requirement as COVID started during my second semester freshman year and I graduated early so I was limited on how many professors I could build a proper connection with. But of course, the person managing the school's emails is the same as the one filtering which applications are marked "complete" and I was prompted with a cold email detailing they make no exemption for "mandatory" requirements.

So now my question is:
1. should I escalate this issue to someone higher up on their admissions team to at least get a second set of eyes looking at it? The risk is obvious here with making myself appear as a troublemaker/nuisance and lowering my chances.
2. Or should I just stomach it and beg and pray for some professor who has only ever seen me in a Zoom call to write me a LOR last minute?? like pwetty pwease I need LOR for one school or else I wont get accepted pewase submit asap🥺

Finally, am I the one wrong here and these are real "criteria" for LOR? I don't personally know this person and really have no reason to think they are not doing anything but their job but it really doesn't make sense what they're doing and I can't just pull LORs out of my ass. I gave all my other writers like 3 months to write so asking anyone at this point when classes are set to start does not give me high hopes; not to mention is unfair to the writer.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted1162863]

I would think option 2 is a better idea. It is difficult to say who is right or wrong in this situation without reviewing the specifics, but they are the adcom. There might even be some risk in arguing. Good luck. Maybe you even might want to go somewhere else as a result of this bad experience.

 

[DrippingNeverTripping]

I would think option 2 is a better idea. It is difficult to say who is right or wrong in this situation without reviewing the specifics, but they are the adcom. There might even be some risk in arguing. Good luck. Maybe you even might want to go somewhere else as a result of this bad experience.

Yep and thats what i am leaning towards. I would've thanked them for their time and withdrawn from day 1 after they asked for another LOR if it wasn't one of my top choices. Truth be told I know a lot of current med students there and faculty alongside having done a reaearfh internship with the same school of medicine and my experience has been nothing but positive so this is sort of unexpected. nonetheless, I've emailed some profs and if they respond back with a LOR then so be it but if not then I guess it wasn't meant to be. Ill do what I can and wont lose sleep over it

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Restating the problem: one school believes your neuroscience professor letter who has taught you classes and supervises your research is a strictly-research letter?

Option 3: Tell your neuroscience professor and have them contact the admissions team to clarify their relationship with you so that the letter (or a modified one) satisfies their criteria as a "science letter."

Option 4: Tell your prehealth advisor and do Option 3.

Yes, each school may have criteria for their required LOR's. This is part of your research as you are building a list before applying.

 

[gyngyn]

2. Or should I just stomach it and beg and pray for some professor who has only ever seen me in a Zoom call to write me a LOR last minute??

I vote for this choice. Most letters are perfunctory anyway. If this satisfies them, so be it.

 

[Rachapkis]

Option 2 is your best option. Escalating this issue at the school may ruffle feathers and doom your chances from jump.

 

[DrippingNeverTripping]

Restating the problem: one school believes your neuroscience professor letter who has taught you classes and supervises your research is a strictly-research letter?

Option 3: Tell your neuroscience professor and have them contact the admissions team to clarify their relationship with you so that the letter (or a modified one) satisfies their criteria as a "science letter."

Option 4: Tell your prehealth advisor and do Option 3.

Yes, each school may have criteria for their required LOR's. This is part of your research as you are building a list before applying.

I hadn't thought of option 3 so actually I've emailed said professor to request they email the admission team on my behalf. I have no premed advisor, or well technically I used to, but I've only met with them once during my freshman year and never again after they said I should only apply to MD if I get a 515+ and 3.8+ (mind you I was a freshman at this time but knew this was bogus). There is no committee or whatever at my school. I've also gone ahead with option 2 and contacted that prof to write me a LOR but hopes aren't too high. Thanks guys for giving your inputs I appreciate it.