LOR Question

[tam23]

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So I'm trying to decide who to get to write my 2nd character LOR and would love some advice! I currently have my research PI writing my first character LOR, so I wanted to get someone who has known me in a clinical setting to write my 2nd one. Right now I'm considering asking a physician I shadowed for 50+ hours last summer (2 days/week for half of summer) or the head of Impact America at my university who serves as the volunteer coordinator for sight screenings I have conducted for the past 2 years (50+ hours). The volunteer coordinator isn't a PhD, so I didn't know if her lack of title would be okay. Both of them know me fairly well, but I think the volunteer coordinator might have more to talk about since I actually worked with her multiple times versus the doctor that I just followed around and asked questions. Any advice will help!

 

[tam23]

why do you feel you need 2 character references? what are your other LORs in total?

I have my 2 science and 1 non-science LOR, so I can do 2 more character LOR.

 

[gyngyn]

The only thing less powerful than a physician shadowing letter is a volunteer supervisor letter.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

The only thing less powerful than a physician shadowing letter is a volunteer supervisor letter.

How come?

 

[gyngyn]

How come?

1. Physicians tend to find family friends (even relatives) for their children to shadow.
2. Even when the person shadowed is not a friend of the family, shadowing behavior does not include demonstration of anything we are looking for (except maybe showing up on time) and is thus essentially baseless. What could they really say: "Johnny was a perfect shadow. He was quiet and hardly ever got in the way. Relatively few patients asked him to leave the room. He was almost as good as having no one there at all!"
3. Physicians love everyone, even cranky patients and co-workers. Applicants in whom you have invested the time are even cuter.
4. Physicians appear congenitally incapable of writing anything but a glowing, bland letter that usually tells you more about how they remember themselves than anything about the applicant. They almost always end with a prediction of the applicant's future (something we all know to be impossible).
5. For all the above (and more) they are gratuitous and yet must be read by the examiner, if submitted.

Volunteer supervisor letters are even worse. They usually give the number of hours served and a vague generalization of the candidate. Since the letter is for someone they didn't pay, there is a sense that it is "owed" to them.

Don't get me wrong, most letters are unhelpful, but these two types stand out because they are so frequent and predictable.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

1. Physicians tend to find family friends (even relatives) for their children to shadow.
2. Even when the person shadowed is not a friend of the family, shadowing behavior does not include demonstration of anything we are looking for (except maybe showing up on time) and is thus essentially baseless. What could they really say: "Johnny was a perfect shadow. He was quiet and hardly ever got in the way. Relatively few patients asked him to leave the room. He was almost as good as having no one there at all!"
3. Physicians love everyone, even cranky patients and co-workers. Applicants in whom you have invested the time are even cuter.
4. Physicians appear congenitally incapable of writing anything but a glowing, bland letter that usually tells you more about how they remember themselves than anything about the applicant. They almost always end with a prediction of the applicant's future.
5. For all the above (and more) they are gratuitous and yet must be read by the examiner, if submitted.

Volunteer supervisor letters are even worse. They usually give the number of hours served and a vague generalization of the candidate. Since the letter is for someone they didn't pay, there is a sense that it is "owed" to them.

Don't get me wrong, most letters are unhelpful, but these two types stand out because they are so frequent and predictable.

Is it common for many letters (especially from professors I'd assume) to be very neutral and not give much info?

 

[gyngyn]

Is it common for many letters (especially from professors I'd assume) to be very neutral and not give much info?

It is routine.