LOR from family?

[MTme]

Is it frowned upon to get a LOR from a family member even if you have shadowed them extensively?

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[Ismet]

Seriously? An LOR from a family member is absolutely not acceptable, no matter how much you have shadowed them.

 

[gyngyn]

"Frowned upon" is an understatement.

 

[solitarius]

very. bad. idea.

nepotism?

 

[justAstudent]

I'm almost certain this is not allowed.

 

[mcloaf]

No, no, no. No. NO. Don't. No.

 

[Mad Jack]

Seriously? An LOR from a family member is absolutely not acceptable, no matter how much you have shadowed them.

What is wrong with a letter from the family? Surely, we must be able to find some sort of compromise on this issue.

 

[AquiVoy13]

Nooo. I would look into shadowing some other physicians. I'm not sure how good it would look if most of your shadowing was with a relative.

 

[Ismet]

Nooo. I would look into shadowing some other physicians. I'm not sure how good it would look if most of your shadowing was with a relative.

It doesn't look very good. I've seen a couple. "I know what being a doctor is like because my dad is a doctor!" Only clinical experience listed in activities is like 10 hours of shadowing the father on one day.

 

[MTme]

Thats what I thought, I was just checking. I definitely have other shadowing. I never even considered this shadowing because I have been doing it so long.

 

[The Buff OP]

I'll let Michael Scott handle this one.

 

[circulus vitios]

 

[BurberryDoc]

If your clinical and professional experience is so limited that you have only been able to garner opportunities through family, then chances are you haven't gotten out of your comfort zone substantively enough to make a splash among any medical school admissions committees.

 

[fw5tape6kq]

Even if that type of LOR is allowed, it's virtually useless due to the fact that the person who wrote it is close to you.

 

[PREMED1992]

All objectivity is out the window.....so how useful could the recommendation be?......Basically if you had two candidates and one was recommended by their father as being hard working etc and the other recommended by a random professor...which would you be more inclined to believe? Although recommendations are still not perfectly objective in my opinion-in that you get to ask who likes you and theoretically not those that don't -it's just even more so a problem if the person is related to you. I mean how many parents would be willing to say "so and so was a hard worker but generally late and frankly within the lower 40% of college age students i've worked with"...not likely ... so the letter is basically useless. I would absolutely NOT do that unless there were extenuating/special circumstances....e.g. you shared a Nobel prize with your relative after doing research with them...and even then I would be inclined to recommend that you try your best to find another collaborator to write it...

Long and short of it...no.....at best it will be seen as useless and not taken seriously....at worst they'll think you needed family to get a leg up and you weren't a hard enough worker/involved person to get recommendations from other people.

 

[SunsFun]

Come on dude. Do what other premeds in your situation are doing and have your dad ask his buddy to write one for you.

 

[Pacna]

Come on dude. Do what other premeds in your situation are doing and have your dad ask his buddy to write one for you.

Boom. Loophole.

 

[knv2u]

It would be extremely lame, and I am sure that an adcom would question your judgment generally.

 

[knv2u]

What is wrong with a letter from the family? Surely, we must be able to find some sort of compromise on this issue.

1) Any comments about how "great" the candidate is will be met with extreme skepticism and eye rolls from the admission committees. Do you really think a family member is likely to say that someone is a mediocre student and not fit to be a doctor? I don't think so (and I am not implying that the original poster is any of those things).

2) If the letter of recommendation is lukewarm or worse, the applicant is completely screwed. There is no way around it. If you own family isn't excited about the candidacy of one of their own, why should an adcom? (Sometimes a single lukewarm LOR from a professor, while detrimental, might not be fatal).

 

[bear2roo]

Can they find out if say the letter did not mention s/he was your aunt/uncle/cousin/extended family?

 

[Mad Jack]

1) Any comments about how "great" the candidate is will be met with extreme skepticism and eye rolls from the admission committees. Do you really think a family member is likely to say that someone is a mediocre student and not fit to be a doctor? I don't think so (and I am not implying that the original poster is any of those things).

2) If the letter of recommendation is lukewarm or worse, the applicant is completely screwed. There is no way around it. If you own family isn't excited about the candidacy of one of their own, why should an adcom? (Sometimes a single lukewarm LOR from a professor, while detrimental, might not be fatal).

 

[kyamh]

Also, unless you are applying DO, a physician LOR is unnecessary

 

[gyngyn]

Can they find out if say the letter did not mention s/he was your aunt/uncle/cousin/extended family?

If we do, you're toast.

 

[Goro]

Oh yes. I once read a LOR from an applicant's 12 year old son. I am NOT making this up. The mom thought that by showing what a great mom she was, that it would mean she'd be a great doctor.

Reject!

Is it frowned upon to get a LOR from a family member even if you have shadowed them extensively?

 

[slopes23]

Oh yes. I once read a LOR from an applicant's 12 year old son. I am NOT making this up. The mom thought that by showing what a great mom she was, that it would ean she'd be a great doctor.

Reject!

Mam, after reviewing your file, unfortunately we will have to reject your application on the basis of your child's LOR. It seems that you are such a great mom, the pip squeak wants you all to himself. Unfortunately when we get letter's like this and the letter writer recommends that you not be admitted, it's out of our hands. Your son has spoken.

 

[primadonna22274]

I once read a LOR for a PA applicant from a physician who started the letter, "I have known her since she was a little girl because she and my daughter have been best friends..."
That letter was absolutely useless to me in determining whether the applicant was well-suited to our program. In fact I think I rejected her app which was in most other ways lackluster.