Non-science faculty letter

[SoftwareKevin]

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I'm curious what people who are returning to school to take pre-reqs have done for their non-science faculty letter of recommendation. Since returning I've only taken one non-science class (a medical ethics class) and while I'd love for her to write me a letter, I haven't heard back from her after asking so I'm doubtful that's going to happen. I did well (4.0) but it was a short summer quarter so I'm not expecting anything. I'd hate to have to take a class I don't need and don't have time for just to try and get a non-science letter. I did engineering in my undergrad a while back so I don't really have any options from my original undergrad for non-science letters.

Not all schools require a non-science faculty letter, but enough do that I'm racking my brains what to do here. Has anyone had any luck getting waivers for that? What I have now is:

3 science faculty letters
1 letter form research PI
1 employer letter

Thanks 🙂

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Not all schools require the same letters, so my general policy is to ask EVERYONE for a letter and then pick and choose which letters to send to each school.

Aside from academic letters, some of the people you should keep in mind to ask about a letter are:

• Any employer if you can make a case that you learned skills relevant for medicine
• Anyone you volunteered with
• Anyone you shadowed with

But now to answer your question... To be honest, I don't think I applied to any schools that explicitly required a letter from a non-science faculty member. Keep in mind that sometimes schools have guidelines for what to do if you're a non-traditional student. They might make an exception for you. But if there's a school that really, really wants a LOR from a non-science faculty, my suggestion is just to take a class, do excellently, and ask for a letter. Maybe something related to medicine in a round-about way, like something in ethics or something in sociology that relates to medicine.

 

[TFS]

i had:

2 science letters
1 letter from my PI
1 letter from the medical director of a clinic i volunteered at
1 letter from my former boss

i forget exactly which one satisfied the non-science faculty letter, but i think it was the letter from my PI, who is a doctor but more importantly, faculty at the university hospital. schools are pretty flexible (although when in doubt, shoot them an email to explain our situation) - i didn't have any issues with the letters i submitted. good luck!

 

[SoftwareKevin]

i forget exactly which one satisfied the non-science faculty letter, but i think it was the letter from my PI, who is a doctor but more importantly, faculty at the university hospital. schools are pretty flexible (although when in doubt, shoot them an email to explain our situation) - i didn't have any issues with the letters i submitted. good luck!

Thanks TFS. Sounds like we have similar letters. I'm getting my list of schools together that I"ll be applying to so I'll be contacting the ones that request a non-science faculty letter and see what they say.