Non-Science Rec Letters

[hoihaie]

For schools that require non science rec letters, is that requirement absolute i.e. Penn state or Drexel?

I don't have any non-science letters (only got: 1 from PI, 1 from community service, 3 from science professors). Should I still apply to schools that want non-science letters?

I called the admissions office for penn state and they just said they can't tell me to apply or not...

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[siffster]

Is there no way you can contact one of your former professors regarding a letter? I had this same problem up until last week. I decided to email all my non-science professors and one was actually willing to help me out.

I do not know how strictly they stick to their LOR requirements, but they will probably question why you can't meet the requirement. If you attended a university that has a pre-med committee, I believe you may be able to substitute the standard 2science + 1 non-science requirement by providing a committee letter, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[GameTheory29]

Yeah I have had the similar problem, I came up with a larger school list this cycle and I'm going to go through and see which ones are strict about the non-science and contact them to see if I should still apply but I'll probably figure out exactly which schools after I submit initially. Last year I applied to 12 schools and I didn't have a problem with any of them. Though when I was considering schools, one school told me my application would be incomplete without a non-science rec (which I took as a nod to not apply if I was to not get one). So maybe the question you should pose if you are asking schools should be 'would my application be considered complete/incomplete based on the letters that I do have' or are 'what are your letter requirements and are this this and this letter okay in meeting your letters requirement'

It's not a problem of having recommendations as I have a pre health advisor, a calc professor, a science professor, and two physicians I scribe for. It's just I don't have that specific requirement and I graduated a couple years ago. It may knock you out of contention in a couple schools, but I've come to accept that. Better to just save the money

 

[Genore]

Think about why they ask you to have non-science letters. Many if not most science courses are taught in large lecture halls or by TAs. Social science/other classes tend to be smaller in size with more writing and more in class discussion that gives the professors a chance to get to know you as a person and see how you interact with others. That's why they ask for that letter. You seem to have a good set of letters but I wouldn't waste your application money on them if they have deemed it important enough to specify the types of letters they want.

 

[hoihaie]

Yeah I have had the similar problem, I came up with a larger school list this cycle and I'm going to go through and see which ones are strict about the non-science and contact them to see if I should still apply but I'll probably figure out exactly which schools after I submit initially. Last year I applied to 12 schools and I didn't have a problem with any of them. Though when I was considering schools, one school told me my application would be incomplete without a non-science rec (which I took as a nod to not apply if I was to not get one). So maybe the question you should pose if you are asking schools should be 'would my application be considered complete/incomplete based on the letters that I do have' or are 'what are your letter requirements and are this this and this letter okay in meeting your letters requirement'

It's not a problem of having recommendations as I have a pre health advisor, a calc professor, a science professor, and two physicians I scribe for. It's just I don't have that specific requirement and I graduated a couple years ago. It may knock you out of contention in a couple schools, but I've come to accept that. Better to just save the money

Do you remember what school that was?

 

[GameTheory29]

Do you remember what school that was?

Creighton

did you hear from Penn State or Drexel? I thought I called emailed Drexel last year but I don't remember.

 

[orangeman25]

Creighton

did you hear from Penn State or Drexel? I thought I called emailed Drexel last year but I don't remember.

It's not an absolute. I know someone that got into creighton this cycle without a non science letter. She has a physician letter though and a committee letter.

 

[orangeman25]

For schools that require non science rec letters, is that requirement absolute i.e. Penn state or Drexel?

I don't have any non-science letters (only got: 1 from PI, 1 from community service, 3 from science professors). Should I still apply to schools that want non-science letters?

I called the admissions office for penn state and they just said they can't tell me to apply or not...

You're fine.

 

[GameTheory29]

It's not an absolute. I know someone that got into creighton this cycle without a non science letter. She has a physician letter though and a committee letter.

My school didn't have committee letters. In general, if I had a committee letter service at my school I wouldn't even really think about the letter requirements at most schools since most prefer a committee letter to a set of letters

 

[PakiMDDreamer]

@hoihaie Did you apply to PennState/Drexel without a non science? If so what happened? I'm running into a similar issue this cycle, might scramble to email/call an older english professor, hopefully she remembers me

 

[hoihaie]

@hoihaie Did you apply to PennState/Drexel without a non science? If so what happened? I'm running into a similar issue this cycle, might scramble to email/call an older english professor, hopefully she remembers me

I did not apply to penn state. Drexel put me on hold then rejected me, don't know if that was because of the lor issue though.