Letter of Recommendation

[Gill_97]

Hello,
I'm currently shadowing a pediatric cardiologist. I have shadowed him for about 10-11 days for about 1-3 hours a day. Is it worthy to ask him for a letter of recommendation? I am a freshman in college, so I hope he doesn't say that I have plenty of time to get letters or something along those lines. Also, have I shadowed enough for him to write a letter? Should I also provide a resume or something if he does say yes? Any advice appreciated!

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[DocMaur]

Gill97,
I think it would be wise to shadow this cardiologist as long as possible. Being a freshman, you have plenty of time gain some experience through this provider. If you were to ask him and he says yes, then I would offer him a resume. Also look up old an LOR can be. Not sure if there are rules on that.
Either way, sounds like a cool experience to have under your belt!
Good luck!

 

[Lucca]

It sounds like you have been with him for around 10-33 hours total. That is a very short time for him to get to know you. Secondly, shadowing is typically a very passive activity where you might engage with the physician and occasionally the patient but never to such an extent that someone could honestly make a judgement about your character / professional aptitude. Basically, even if he said yes (which he most likely wouldn't for the reason you correctly identified - it is too soon - and the one I just gave you) the letter would be of little use to anyone. You are still a freshman and if this is your first semester than you are way too early in the process to be thinking about this. Your primary concern should be doing well in your classes, figuring out if medicine is right for you or if another profession might be a better fit and once you have that figured out you can start branching out and building relationships with faculty on campus / research PIs / bosses / volunteer coordinators etc etc. Take it one step a time.

 

[Lost in Translation]

Waaaaay too early. Next time, try to start friendly conversation. A LOR will do nothing if the person writing it has no clue who you are.

 

[SandP]

yep, as long as he can attest do your ability to become a doctor, you should be fine. 30 hours of time with him/her should be plenty for them to do that.

 

[candbgirl]

Be aware some if the ADCOMS on here say a physician letter is useless unless the doc is a DO
and you are applying DO or a particular school requests one. In any event the soonest you could use the letter is 2+ years away and it would be a very old letter by then. What you should do is expand your focus and ask the doc to help you contact other docs to shadow in gen med and other areas. Ten/thirty three hours is plenty of shadowing with this doctor . Time to see something else.

 

[Gill_97]

Thanks for all of the advice. I was excited about shadowing a doctor, so that's why I decided to start as early as possible. I was also hoping to start gathering letters of recommendation early on, but sounds like it may be a little bit too early. So, should I move to another doctor? Should I maybe shadow this doctor again a couple of years later and then ask him for a LOR?

 

[SandP]

yep definitely ask for an LOR closer to the time of application