Need adivce about a letter of rec after my mentor who was supposed to write it passed away suddenly

[Wobbler12345]

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Hi all,

I have a bit of a unique situation as the title explained. A professor who I had formed a good relationship with and who was on the curriculum board for our university's medical school, was going to write a letter attesting to how he believed I would excel in medical school, especially with our curriculum, suddenly passed away from pancreatic cancer about two weeks ago. After dealing with that, I assumed the letter of rec he was writing for me was not going to happen. I was all set to roll with the three I have which are very strong. The only issue is one is from my PI, another is from an old boss who wrote about my leadership abilities and the last is a letter of rec from a different professor. I know it is preferred to have two from professors whose classes you have taken, which is where the issue comes in. I got an email from the new departmental chair saying that on his death bed, my professor had made arrangements to ensure I would get a letter of rec on his behalf. After meeting with the new chair to discuss the situation and allow him to get a sense of who I am before writing my letter, I don't know how strong of a letter from someone who I have met once? He said he is going to include that he is writing on my old prof's behalf/the whole death bed story, but besides that, the content of the letter will mostly be about the rigor and prestige of our department and how I did well with classes. It will not include much detail about me as a person. Am I better to just not send this fourth letter to schools once it gets entered into AMCAS and roll with the three I have?

 

[Moko]

If your professor made arrangements to give a LOR on his behalf, one would think that he also conveyed a general sense of how strong of an applicant you are. This letter is unlikely to hurt you and will most likely help (if anything). Even if it's not the strongest letter, the circumstances in which this letter was written would make readers give you the benefit of the doubt, especially if the rest of your letters and application are otherwise solid. Hope this alleviates your concern.