No LOR from non-science faculty

[DrChef94]

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Hi everyone,
To quickly summarize: I'm unable to get a LOR from a non-science faculty member. I recently graduated from a Canadian university and as Canada doesn't have humanities requirements like US unis do, I ended up only taking 3 "arts" courses. My two English teachers were both Ph.D. Candidates, not professors, and my social psychology professor rejected my request for a letter.
I earned a BSc in psychology, which technically isn't considered science by AMCAS, but all of the professors are associated with faculty of science.
Is there any way around this? The schools that require them that I'm applying to are Drexel, Eastern Virginia, Harvard, Mount Sinai, Rutgers, SUNY downstate, and University of Vermont.


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[ChrisMack390]

You can't get a letter from a psych professor? Like a particularly non-science one (think 'theory of perception' and not 'neuropsychiatry')

 

[DrChef94]

You can't get a letter from a psych professor? Like a particularly non-science one (think 'theory of perception' and not 'neuropsychiatry')

I tailored my degree to be very science-heavy, so all of my psyc classes but the one I mentioned were more like "special topics in neuropsychology", "hormones and behaviour", etc.


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[Shirafune]

Hi everyone,
To quickly summarize: I'm unable to get a LOR from a non-science faculty member. I recently graduated from a Canadian university and as Canada doesn't have humanities requirements like US unis do, I ended up only taking 3 "arts" courses. My two English teachers were both Ph.D. Candidates, not professors, and my social psychology professor rejected my request for a letter.
I earned a BSc in psychology, which technically isn't considered science by AMCAS, but all of the professors are associated with faculty of science.
Is there any way around this? The schools that require them that I'm applying to are Drexel, Eastern Virginia, Harvard, Mount Sinai, Rutgers, SUNY downstate, and University of Vermont.


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I don't have those LOR requirements off the top of my head, but you could try bending the interpretation of their requirements a bit, if you don't mind throwing away some secondary fee money. What I mean is, if the requirement is strictly phrased "a non-science faculty letter who taught you," then don't apply to those schools. However, if they word it like, "a non-science letter," then you might be able to get away with a clinical volunteering letter or employer letter that is not science related.

 

[DrChef94]

Most of the schools do specifically indicate it has to be a faculty member whose class you've taken or who taught you /:
Would it be worth trying to get a letter from one of my English "professors"? One of them was a small class of 30 so she knew me well.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Most of the schools do specifically indicate it has to be a faculty member whose class you've taken or who taught you /:
Would it be worth trying to get a letter from one of my English "professors"? One of them was a small class of 30 so she knew me well.

Uh, yes. Why would you not do this?

 

[mitch8017]

You can't get a letter from a psych professor? Like a particularly non-science one (think 'theory of perception' and not 'neuropsychiatry')

Wait, so you are allowed to use a psychology professor to fill in the non-science faculty letter requirement?

 

[DrChef94]

Uh, yes. Why would you not do this?

Because she was a PhD candidate and not an actual faculty member, but I guess it's better than not having one at all!

 

[Shirafune]

Because she was a PhD candidate and not an actual faculty member, but I guess it's better than not having one at all!

I don't know what it's like in Canada, but if the PhD candidates are hired to teach regularly for an extended period of time during their program, then it might pass as "faculty."

 

[TaupePremed]

Definitely get a letter from the PhD candidate teacher. Definitely, definitely, definitely. Better than nothing and probably good enough.

Having a person who "taught you in class" is usually an important requirement, but the definition of "faculty" is fuzzy. How do you think med schools have 2 to 1 faculty to student ratios? Exactly. Broad definitions of "faculty".

 

[ChrisMack390]

Because she was a PhD candidate and not an actual faculty member, but I guess it's better than not having one at all!

Ah, I see. I would still say its better than nothing, especially if your other letters are strong.

Wait, so you are allowed to use a psychology professor to fill in the non-science faculty letter requirement?

I think psych is very borderline. I am using a psych professor as a science letter, but that professor taught me The Brain in Psychology 1 and 2, for which I dissected an actual human brain, and he is a clinical psychologist by training (I even saw a couple of patients with him). There are definitely other classes, like say psychotherapy or social psych, that are a bit "softer" and could probably go under non-science.

 

[TheBiologist]

personally I don't think it's going to break your app unless the schools youre applying to specifically articulate that you need a non-science lor

 

[Necr0sis713]

Maybe you can ask if you can replace a physician shadowing letter or the supervisor/manager of the person in charge of your volunteering?

 

[mitch8017]

Ah, I see. I would still say its better than nothing, especially if your other letters are strong.




I think psych is very borderline. I am using a psych professor as a science letter, but that professor taught me The Brain in Psychology 1 and 2, for which I dissected an actual human brain, and he is a clinical psychologist by training (I even saw a couple of patients with him). There are definitely other classes, like say psychotherapy or social psych, that are a bit "softer" and could probably go under non-science.

Would developmental psychology fall under "soft"?

 

[wowzerr]

Isn't the non-science letter typically a lax requirement from schools that require it? Did you try contacting them and asking if they're willing to take a different letter?

I'm saying this from what I've seen on other posts and stuff...so I'm far from being qualified to offer advice about this sort of thing.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Would developmental psychology fall under "soft"?

Not sure I am the best person to evaluate this. I think the distinction would lie in the course content. Did you spend a lot of time on embryology and neuro development? Or was it mostly Freudian theory and such?

 

[subdermallight]

Hi everyone,
To quickly summarize: I'm unable to get a LOR from a non-science faculty member. I recently graduated from a Canadian university and as Canada doesn't have humanities requirements like US unis do, I ended up only taking 3 "arts" courses. My two English teachers were both Ph.D. Candidates, not professors, and my social psychology professor rejected my request for a letter.
I earned a BSc in psychology, which technically isn't considered science by AMCAS, but all of the professors are associated with faculty of science.
Is there any way around this? The schools that require them that I'm applying to are Drexel, Eastern Virginia, Harvard, Mount Sinai, Rutgers, SUNY downstate, and University of Vermont.


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Curious, do you know if East Virginia was cool without the non-science letter? I'm in your same boat, and Vermont was fine with it, I'm not applying to the others (I realize this was some time ago)

 

[allantois]

If you don’t meet LOR requirements, your application won’t get looked at. Enroll in some classes now if you have to

 

[subdermallight]

If you don’t meet LOR requirements, your application won’t get looked at. Enroll in some classes now if you have to

I'm applying right now, too late unfortunately. But! I've been emailing the admissions committees and so far they have said it is totally fine as long as I have enough other good letters. You're saying even they would just dismiss my app anyway?

East Virginia is the only I've encounter with a very clear push for it. I need to hear but from them still

 

[allantois]

I'm applying right now, too late unfortunately. But! I've been emailing the admissions committees and so far they have said it is totally fine as long as I have enough other good letters. You're saying even they would just dismiss my app anyway?

East Virginia is the only I've encounter with a very clear push for it. I need to hear but from them still

Go with that admissions people say 🙂

 

[subdermallight]

While schools can technically not mark application complete and therefore not review it, if you were missing required letters, the reality is that the majority of schools do not typically classify or check letters for requirement fulfillment until AFTER your application is complete and being evaluated. That is, if you list say 4 LOR and all 4 arrive, your application will be marked complete and will evaluated.

Thanks for the information. To update, East Virginia gave me a waiver. So far FIU and Vermont have also given me one.