LOR/MSTP advice?

[byong_soo]

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Dear SDNers,

I am a 3rd year biochem major. I have a 3.8 GPA (slightly higher science gpa i think), researched in 4 different labs (one summer thru HST summer fellowship; but only had decent time with only 2 of them; altho i do have a publication, 2nd author in some obscure journal, so nothing special), school crew team, ER, clubs.

First of all, I am pondering whether I should apply this summer or not (regardless I am planning to take mcat this april). I am not really sure if my resume is good enough to apply right now, and I heard taking a year or two after undergrad is a good idea (but my question is, in what circumstance would this suit you? is this for everyone that has not so spectacular resumeS?)

I think I am not really in a good standing in terms of getting in, at least decent to top-tier ones. I would really like to get in to a top-tier, but you know, I don't feel like I don't have anything exceptional to present. I think I am honestly losing my confidence, too. I often ask myself if I am actually smart enough to even apply for MSTP, and maybe I shoudl just go for MD. I mean I LOVE research (I really do), but I feel like I don't have brains for it (I am not like quick and creative as some of my peers).

Q#1: What are your opinions about the extra year or two of expereince? and When shoudl one pursue this road?

Also, I think something that concerns me the most right now is my rec letter. I have gotten A's in some classes, but do not know the professor at all. A lot of you guys have emphasized rec letters, and now I'm starting to feel the pressure. For instance, I recently asked a professor to write me a rec letter, and she responded by saying: "I am happy to write it for you. There is no need to describe all your career goals etc to me - these will not be part of my letter and really shouldn't be. I will describe your performance and the course and that will be sufficient." I honestly don't think she sounded like she was gonna write me a great rec, just a ok one at MOST. Maybe I should tell her what I want on the letter? but that would be weird right? unless she asks? Haha. I am so confused.

Q2: Do you guys have any advice on how to get a good LOR? and maybe how to establish a good relationship with professors? And what do you think about how my professor responded to me?

thanks!!! THis became more of a xanga post than a forum post, so I apologize in advance, and thnx for reading this far.

 

[Mitro]

First, this advice only applies to non-coxswains (j/k)

Q#1: What are your opinions about the extra year or two of expereince? and When shoudl one pursue this road?

Ultimately it's a personal choice. I decided to take a year off because I was in a similar situation to your own. Currently I'm working full time in a lab and I've found that most people along the way thought I made a good choice in taking a year off. It's probably your last legitamate shot at taking sometime away from school. Also, it can be a great time to improve your application by getting more lab experience, doing some shadowing, and getting another letter from a research mentor.

This being said, one interviewer that I met was somewhat critical about my choice to take a year off. Mind you this was only one person against many who thought that it's a good idea to take a year off in general.

As far as your experience goes, I think that you don't NEED to take a year off given your research experience. But it probably can only make your application stronger if you take advantage of the time.

Q2: Do you guys have any advice on how to get a good LOR? and maybe how to establish a good relationship with professors? And what do you think about how my professor responded to me?

I wouldn't worry too much about getting letters from people that taught you in courses. All of mine were from people whose labs I worked in - and although this is only speculation, I can imagine that these types of letters had a little more weight than the ones from people who you just took a class from.

As far as this particular professor goes, it sounds like they wouldn't write you a bad letter - just not a great one. Really it's your call, but I can't imagine that a letter like that would help or hurt you too much either way.

As far as how to get good letters, I would focus on getting letters for people you did research for. Just point blank ask them if they feel that they could write a good letter for you.

Good luck with the decisions and slaving away on the erg (unless you're coxswain, then good luck with yelling).

 

[staticfritz]

I think the most important things about taking a year off is to have a good plan. That was one thing I was asked about most during interviews, is WHY the year off. You just need to have a good answer, and it'll be fine.

As far as LORs are concerned, previous employers can be a good source as well as you professors and research mentos.

 

[tofurious]

It sounds like you have a decent chance at getting into an MSTP somewhere. Of course, not having a MCAT score and not having strong letters currently would make you want to wait a year. However, you can always apply and then have as a back-up plan working in a lab for a year. Experience in lab is to determine whether you actually appreciate and are competent in science, not to have 5 Nature papers before you apply for grad school. As for your letters, if you've been in 4 labs, it's important to get a letter or two from your research mentors. If you don't at least include one letter, every program will question what you are hiding and whether you were a poor lab worker. Everybody also knows that course director/chair letters are really impersonal and don't say much at all. Therefore, unless the person writing the letter is some big shot, there really is no point in getting a letter from an assistant professor (or lecturer) who repeats what your transcript says already.

 

[byong_soo]

Thnx everyone. I guess for now, I'll see how my mcat numbers are going to look (i had miserable 21 on my diag) and also work on my rec letters somehow. Oh btw, a lot of u guys have mentioned that it is probably a good idea to get letters from PI's (which I have no problem with), but don't you NEED some rec letters from academic lecturers as well? or am i misinformed?

 

[tedrik]

Letters from your class professors probably wont be too outstanding, but if you know that a prof will write you a really nice one, then go for it. Otherwise, I would not suggest asking for a letter from someone you don't know that well just for the sake of having a well-rounded packet of recs.

I didn't have any letters from lecturers in my packet, but I did have two from non-research mentors. I'd say the thing that has hurt me the most was the fact that I didn't have any clinical letters. If I could do it again I would definitely throw out my "personal" letter to make room for a clinical one.

good luck!

 

[fyli260]

I believe some schools require letters from both science and non-science instructors for the MD part. You should check with each specific schools you are applying to make sure. I wouldn't get letters from any professor that you didn't get to know to some extent one-on-one or in a small class setting though.

 

[tedrik]

I believe some schools require letters from both science and non-science instructors for the MD part. You should check with each specific schools you are applying to make sure. I wouldn't get letters from any professor that you didn't get to know to some extent one-on-one or in a small class setting though.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that as well. fyli260 is right, some schools specifically require certain letters. I know that UCSD asked for a letter from a non-science professor (humanities, social science, etc), but if you couldn't provide one you just had to write them and explain why.

 

[byong_soo]

ah~ thank you. I am actually finally connecting with one faculty member. Woohoo. =) BTW, what do you folks do over the summer other than research... any interesting experience? I really wanna do something different this summer. Maybe study abroad =) but maybe that will be hard since it's my application summer~ o i can't believe it's coming up so soon

 

[b&ierstiefel]

for what it's worth, i had 4 science (2 from research, 2 from grad courses), 1 math, and 1 humanities letter. the humanities letter was the weakest one by far but for mstp's it didn't matter much.

med schools (MD programs) require 2 non-science letters right? and i don't think math letters count as non-science but i could be wrong.