LOR Writer... Sabotage!

[usermike8500]

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Have any of you ever had an LOR writer write something bad about you?

I asked a professor whom I had never really spoken with to write a letter for me. Dumb I know, but I was desperate and needed a second letter from a science professor. Anyway, I had gotten an A in his Biochem class and thought that at least he could comment on my work. The professor said, "Sure, I'll take good care of you. Don't worry about it. 😉"

I never saw the letter, but turned it in to all the med schools I applied to. It's now been a month and a half since my secondaries were complete and I haven't heard back from any schools. My stats are decent I think: 3.81 gpa and 34P MCAT. It seems to me like possible LOR Sabotage might have caused Med Schools to throw away my application. The prof. could've written something like, "I don't even know this kid, yet he had the audacity to ask me for an LOR. Avoid him at all costs."

Okay, I'm probably just being really paranoid.

 

[rocketbooster]

did you seriously just make this post?

SDN is turning us into overparanoid freaks.

 

[MilkmanAl]

He wouldn't tell you he'd write you a good letter if he wasn't going to.

 

[JackInTheBox]

did you seriously just make this post?

SDN is turning us into overparanoid freaks.

QFMFT.

He wouldn't tell you he'd write you a good letter if he wasn't going to.

Seriously. By writing a LOR, the professor is essentially putting their name and reputation on the line to vouch for you, so their choices are either write a good one, try their best to make an average one (because they don't know you that well) sound good, or come off looking like a dick by screwing you over.

 

[Namir]

A biochem professor has likely written med school recs before and knows that they have every right not to write you one if they don't feel comfortable. It is highly unlikely that he would "sabotage" you because it would only really make him look like a jerk.

If you used your university's letter packet/committee services then I'm pretty sure you can have an advisor read your letter and give you feedback as to whether or not she thinks you should send it out.

 

[sunny1]

More likely it was a neutral/average letter. If the professor didn't really know you, there's nothing amazing he could put in it other than commenting on your grade and generic stuff. That doesn't mean it was a terrible letter...just one that doesn't stand out.

I think you're being paranoid.

 

[Law2Doc]

A biochem professor has likely written med school recs before and knows that they have every right not to write you one if they don't feel comfortable. It is highly unlikely that he would "sabotage" you because it would only really make him look like a jerk.

If you used your university's letter packet/committee services then I'm pretty sure you can have an advisor read your letter and give you feedback as to whether or not she thinks you should send it out.

While I agree that you are unlikely to have been sabotaged, I do have to say that someone who doesn't know anything about you other than that you got an A is going to give you a pretty lame LOR no matter how nice they try to be. They don't know you. All they can say is "X was able to master the material in biochem, as evidenced by the A s/he received in my class. Based on this, I recommend X to your medical school". Which isn't sabotage, but that kind of a letter never gives anyone much of a boost. Someone who knows who you are through office hours, or out of class research, or at least had lunch with you prior to writing the letter (all good techniques for getting decent LORs) will write you a better letter almost every time. So while I don't think this prof did anything other than write an honest positive letter, it probably didn't have the feel of a letter that would be beneficial.

As for getting an advisor to give you feedback, that actually violates the spirit of a waiver and I doubt many schools do this. If you are at one that does, that's useful, but it certainly isn't the norm, nor would I publicize that because it's kind of against the rules and you could burn your school as well as yourself if it's know that this is done. The whole point of LOR waivers is to get candid feedback from someone who knows you will never see what they wrote. If you have access to the content, and know if they wrote a bad letter, the waiver is meaningless and, if this fact becomes known, then the letters will not be regarded as candid.

 

[GoSpursGo]

As for getting an advisor to give you feedback, that actually violates the spirit of a waiver and I doubt many schools do this. If you are at one that does, that's useful, but it certainly isn't the norm, nor would I publicize that because it's kind of against the rules and you could burn your school as well as yourself if it's know that this is done. The whole point of LOR waivers is to get candid feedback from someone who knows you will never see what they wrote. If you have access to the content, and know if they wrote a bad letter, the waiver is meaningless and, if this fact becomes known, then the letters will not be regarded as candid.

The way it was explained to me is the following:

By signing the waiver, you give up your RIGHT to know what is written about you in the letter. Therefore, you cannot ask the person who wrote it or anyone else who might have knowledge of the contents of the letter about what they wrote. As you said, this violates the spirit of the waiver; therefore, asking your advisor or premed committee to let you know if it was "good" is definitely not on the up and up.

That said, I have had friends whose LOR writers elected to let them know what they wrote about anyways, without provocation. So basically, it's not illegal for you to be TOLD what's in the letter, it's just illegal to ASK to be told. Sadly, unless the LOR writer spontaneously decides to divulge what was in the letter, that doesn't help the OP.

Ultimately, I'm sure you're being paranoid, OP 🙂 You have great stats, and you're just being a neurotic premed. A month and a half isn't THAT long to be waiting for a first interview invite; that would've put your submission date back in mid-August, which is a little later than a lot of people, so while maybe it took people who submitted in mid-July about a month to start hearing from schools, it could easily take you 1.5-2 months depending on where you applied and how slow the adcom who's reviewing your file moves through his or her stack.

Relax. It's about a thousand times more likely that the adcoms are just bogged down at this time of the year rather than someone maliciously tried to screw you over. 🙂

 

[Poiu86]

QFMFT.

On a separate note... these forum acronyms are out of control.

 

[GoSpursGo]

on a separate note... These forum acronyms are out of control.

qfmft.

 

[airplanes]

On a separate note... these forum acronyms are out of control.

seriously, i had to urban dictionary that beast. guess that makes me unhip

 

[Bacchus]

I hope you atleast gave your resume and personal statement.

 

[speedyk]

Yes, it must be the LOR writer! No way could it be something about you!

 

[fizzle]

qfmft.

I've never seen that acronym before, but I'm going to guess it stands for "Quoted for mother-f***ing truth." Am I right? 😕🙄

Edit: Oh wow, just looked it up. I got it right!