Letter of Reference from VP

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gunner1

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So the VP of my school will write a letter disclosing my volunteering activities at my undergraduate institution. Would this letter carry alot of weight in the eyes of adcom?

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ROFLOL!!!... oh.

I thought you were asking about Joe Biden.
 
Unless you volunteered directly under your VP, why would it?
 
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C&P previous post.

1) Strength of letters depends on 3 things. #1 The relationship between student and writer. #2 The magnitude of a student's accomplishment in the letter writer's field. #3 Who the writer is. In the vast majority of cases #1 and #2 are more important than #3.
2) Most people vastly over-estimate how strong their letters are. Remember, nobody writes bad or neutral LOR. The baseline is 'good'. A strong letter is one that gives reasons someone should want you in their medical school, not just say that you are smart, hard working or nice.
3) Letters written by professors you took one class with are limited by #1 and #2. Now, if you take multiple classes, TA for the professor, do work outside of class, even if not formalized research, that is a different story. They don't know you very well. Even if you go to every office hour, there are significant limits to what they can really say. Your biggest accomplishment in their realm is doing well in their class and being very interested in what they teach. Hardly comparible to the level of production possible in any number of other avenues.

I want to hear what you are bringing to the table for medical school from someone who sees lots of students. You don't have to be the ONLY person in the world to have those traits. You don't have to be unique. But you have to be able to demonstrate abilities and characteristics beyond what someone that teaches you one class can.

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To answer your question, the letter will not carry extra weight being written be the VP of your school.
 
Some adcom members do get excited to see a letter from someone famous. (The VP of a college or university is not likely to be "someone famous" in the eyes of adcom members.) That said, the content of the letter or the fact that the applicant had a letter from a famous coach, politician, or Nobel laureate is not a plus for the applicant.

A useful letter provides information about the applicant that the writer has observed personally. The writer can vomit into the letter every detail from your resume but that stuff is aready on your application. (e.g. repeating that you have volunteered with "Best Buddies" for 2 years and are president of your fraternity.) On the other hand, if an instructor can, after even one class, describe your ability to engage in class discussions, be supportive of fellow students, to write well argued papers that makes use of appropriate source materials and organizes it in a cogent fashion, to think clearly and so forth, then you've got a good letter.

If you had a professor with whom you went abroad or who was responsible for some experiential learning, those letters tend to be what adcoms are looking for.
 
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