LOR from NP?

[xP53]

What is the consensus on having an LOR from an NP if you work alongside them and physicians in a clinic (assuming you also have an LOR from a physician from the same clinic)?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I think the letter from the doctor at the clinic is sufficient.

 

[xP53]

I think the letter from the doctor at the clinic is sufficient.

Thanks!

 

[polymerization]

In general, I wouldn't recommend it for one practical reason (unless you know them VERY well).

Nursing is a very different field from medicine with very different values. It is not atypical for nurses and nurse practitioners to value task-oriented ideas around evaluation, and a particular flavor of candor that is valuable for an employer but not necessarily a medical school.

If you do a search, you'll find students who ask their longtime NP colleagues for letters, whom later admit they talked about how the student was late, slightly off-kilter, or could not perform a specific task or procedure precisely because they wanted the recommendation to be "realistic" or otherwise credible.

For a letter no school asks for, that is awful information to volunteer about yourself, irrespective of whether it is actually true or fair.

I don't think it is necessarily deliberately malicious, but it is easy to see it that way considering what you have at stake. Stick to physicians and professors.

 

[Moko]

In general, I wouldn't recommend it for one practical reason (unless you know them VERY well).

Nursing is a very different field from medicine with very different values. It is not atypical for nurses and nurse practitioners to value task-oriented ideas around evaluation, and a particular flavor of candor that is valuable for an employer but not necessarily a medical school.

If you do a search, you'll find students who ask their longtime NP colleagues for letters, whom later admit they talked about how the student was late, slightly off-kilter, or could not perform a specific task or procedure precisely because they wanted the recommendation to be "realistic" or otherwise credible.

For a letter no school asks for, that is awful information to volunteer about yourself, irrespective of whether it is actually true or fair.

I don't think it is necessarily deliberately malicious, but it is easy to see it that way considering what you have at stake. Stick to physicians and professors.

I agree with this. Medical school LORs by nurses / NPs tend to be a mixed bag in my experience. Anecdotally, a higher percentage of 'bad' letters come from them, especially for non-nurse applicants. I don't know if it's because they have a chip on their shoulder or if this is just their evaluation culture (I suspect a mix of both), but a lukewarm or mixed letter stands out like a sore thumb. Just my thoughts.