LOR advice for MD/PhD

[theproffer]

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Hi all;

I know it's a little early, but I'm starting to get my LOR for my application this cycle, and had a question regarding whether I should include another letter. Currently, I have 3 PIs I worked for, 2 class professors, and 1 from a clinical volunteer experience (so 6 total). My question is whether I should add another strong letter? The past few months I worked very closely with a Post Doctoral fellow on a publication we have going out shortly. I say this not to be arrogant, but I'm sure the Post Doc would write me a strong letter based on our interactions. My fear however, is that adding too many letters (especially in regards to research) will "water down" the other letters. I know some schools limit the amount of letters you can send, but I have also heard that at other schools don't even read the letters after a certain number. I'm curious on what others thoughts are on this. Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[red doctober]

You can upload up to 10 letters to AMCAS and choose which letters get sent to which schools. You could mix it up and send different combinations to different places. I will say though that 7 is too many even to schools that don't have a limit. Another concern is that because it's from a post-doc and not a seasoned faculty member, that letter might not hold as much weight as your other letters even if it raves about how great you are.

 

[Neuronix]

Post-doc letters don't carry much weight. Either turn it into a professor letter or don't bother.

f you've really worked in four labs, you could consider sending this fourth professor letter along with the professors from the first three labs. If you already have a letter from the professor in that lab, a post-doc letter from the same lab is worthless.