LORs by MDs

[intangible]

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I've been very fortunate over the course of my college career—my mentor is a Dean at my university's medical school, which has led to many opportunities. Currently, I'm employed by the medical school managing web development for our global health division. I work very closely with my director and assistant director in both developing a vision for the department, as well as carrying out any action items they may need.

This work has redefined my idea of what the MD does, and the kinds of fields in which the MD can work.

I want to request LORs from them. Because our staff is very small, I've gotten to know them on very personal levels and I think they can attest to my personal qualities as a student, employee and individual.

However, because they aren't technically practicing, is having an LOR from an MD allowable by an admissions committee, and, if so, is it any less valuable than an LOR from a professor, for instance?

 

[christmasindr]

Why is that not allowed? As long as that writer knows you very well and have positive things to say about you, then it will be fine.

 

[intangible]

Why is that not allowed? As long as that writer knows you very well and have positive things to say about you, then it will be fine.

Only because they didn't directly contribute to my education, and some schools require science faculty to write your letters. Even though they do teach class at the medical school as clinical faculty, I obviously haven't taken their classes, and only know them as administrators.

 

[El-Rami]

Instead of asking on here, why don't you ask an advisor you trust really well in real life? These kind of questions can have lots of underlying complexities that only you, not us, understand well enough to make a decision. If you ask this question here, people will tell you to avoid a LOR from a physician because a handful of people believe they are useless.

 

[christmasindr]

Only because they didn't directly contribute to my education, and some schools require science faculty to write your letters. Even though they do teach class at the medical school as clinical faculty, I obviously haven't taken their classes, and only know them as administrators.

Oh I see. They can be additional letters, but you do need letters from science instructors who can speak for your academic performance and other positive qualities.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

Only because they didn't directly contribute to my education, and some schools require science faculty to write your letters. Even though they do teach class at the medical school as clinical faculty, I obviously haven't taken their classes, and only know them as administrators.

Yes, you can ask them for LORs. Most schools do require LORs from science profs but there's no reason why you can't also include LORs from work supervisors/mentors. (Just make sure you don't send schools more letters than they allow--many have limits.)

EDIT: But I would probably choose someone who directly supervises you, not just someone you know in the office.