Non-Trad Academic Letters of Recommendation Question

[Morgana34]

Greetings, SDN.

Quick question for you guys: I have two solid letters of recommendation, one from over a year-long research internship and the other from the director of a charity that I've been at for over five years. However, I just realized (my fault, I know) that I'm required to have academic letters from professors. My problem is that I did not interact to any degree with my professors while completing my pre-medical classes and I don't feel like any of them would even remember me. Also, as a non-trad, I have been taking my classes slowly over a period of years. I was thinking about emailing them, but they really don't know anything about me. What would you do?

Background: I am a physics major, good but not great MCAT scores (science was fine but psych was lower), and I spent a long time getting my degree. I have excellent extracurriculars and wonderful clinical experience, not to mention plenty of stuff to talk about in an interview.

Thanks for your help.

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[crazymedguy123]

Most schools don't budge on the professor letter requirements, but you can see if there are schools that don't require them. Your best bet is to ask your most recent professors (or if you are planning on taking more courses, build relationships!!!). Ultimately, from what I understand, letters of rec are more of a checkbox requirement. It's obviously preferred that your recs are good, but as long as they aren't bad, it should not prevent you from getting II's from schools (which hopefully the other elements of your app would help you get).

 

[Catalystik]

Quick question for you guys: I have two solid letters of recommendation, one from over a year-long research internship and the other from the director of a charity that I've been at for over five years. However, I just realized (my fault, I know) that I'm required to have academic letters from professors. My problem is that I did not interact to any degree with my professors while completing my pre-medical classes and I don't feel like any of them would even remember me. Also, as a non-trad, I have been taking my classes slowly over a period of years. I was thinking about emailing them, but they really don't know anything about me. What would you do?

Background: I am a physics major, good but not great MCAT scores (science was fine but psych was lower), and I spent a long time getting my degree. I have excellent extracurriculars and wonderful clinical experience, not to mention plenty of stuff to talk about in an interview.

Getting LORs when faculty don't know you:

E-mail and request a meeting appointment to talk about your future. Make sure to bring your resume, and if available, bring your MCAT scores/personal statement.

Also bring an unofficial copy of your transcript and maybe a photo to help them recall you after you leave the meeting. If you wrote a paper for the class, bring that, too.

Ideally the meeting would be about half an hour long, so the prof can "get to know you" which results in a more personal touch to the letter if they agree to write it. Into the conversation perhaps insert reminders of contributions you made to class discussion, a cogent argument you'd made, or a mention of a project you did for the class, besides a reminder of your grade.

It's important to ask at the end, "Do you feel you could write me a strong letter of support for my med school application?" If they hem or haw in any way, or seem reluctant, or say it might take three months, then don't count on that letter being as glowing as you'd wish. Move on and ask someone else.

It's a very common problem in large schools with huge lecture halls that you don't get to know your professors personally. Why should professors go out of their way to help out someone they barely know? Because it reflects well on the reputation of the school to be able to report successful med school application statistics, which helps attract other strong candidates to the school.

The primary reason for the letter is to gain commentary on your academic prowess. If this means asking a TA, then so be it, if no viable professorial-ranked option exists. Such a letter can still be of great value if their higher-level supervisor were to cosign the letter with their credentials added, or even without, if the letter is strong and personal enough.

As you review your options for faculty to approach, keep in mind that for AMCAS purposes, math is looked at as a "science."

Also, leave a copy of the AMCAS LOR Guide (link inside): Need to write a letter of recommendation: what makes a letter strong/stand out? to give the prof.

 

[Catalystik]

Most schools don't budge on the professor letter requirements, but you can see if there are schools that don't require them.

There are also schools that list alternatives for nontraditional applicants.

Examples: Baylor says "If you have not attended a college or university for one year or more...one of your evaluations must be from your immediate supervisor." One of Northwestern's options for non-trad letters is "1 letter by a supervisor from research experience, 1 letter by non-science faculty member or volunteer supervisor and 1 letter by volunteer supervisor or employer."

 

[Sunna12]

Greetings, SDN.

Quick question for you guys: I have two solid letters of recommendation, one from over a year-long research internship and the other from the director of a charity that I've been at for over five years. However, I just realized (my fault, I know) that I'm required to have academic letters from professors. My problem is that I did not interact to any degree with my professors while completing my pre-medical classes and I don't feel like any of them would even remember me. Also, as a non-trad, I have been taking my classes slowly over a period of years. I was thinking about emailing them, but they really don't know anything about me. What would you do?

Background: I am a physics major, good but not great MCAT scores (science was fine but psych was lower), and I spent a long time getting my degree. I have excellent extracurriculars and wonderful clinical experience, not to mention plenty of stuff to talk about in an interview.

Thanks for your help.

Did any of your schools have an official pre-med committee? If so, you are required to have a letter from the school's committee. Double check this to make sure. If not, many schools will list the alternative to a committee letter, such as "X academic letters", then 100% what Catalystik said^. Many schools won't even review applications without academic letters.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Greetings, SDN.

Quick question for you guys: I have two solid letters of recommendation, one from over a year-long research internship and the other from the director of a charity that I've been at for over five years. However, I just realized (my fault, I know) that I'm required to have academic letters from professors. My problem is that I did not interact to any degree with my professors while completing my pre-medical classes and I don't feel like any of them would even remember me. Also, as a non-trad, I have been taking my classes slowly over a period of years. I was thinking about emailing them, but they really don't know anything about me. What would you do?

Background: I am a physics major, good but not great MCAT scores (science was fine but psych was lower), and I spent a long time getting my degree. I have excellent extracurriculars and wonderful clinical experience, not to mention plenty of stuff to talk about in an interview.

Thanks for your help.

Some schools require at least one non science professor to write a LOR for you. You should subscribe to MSAR to find about differences in LOR requirements.

Some undergrad schools won’t write you a committee letter unless your GPA exceeds a certain cutoff or if you graduated too long ago.

 

[Morgana34]

Thanks for all of the replies.
I'm reaching out to a handful of professors who might remember me, and one TA I was on good terms with. Hopefully, one will be willing to write something.

I've heard some people include drafts/suggestions of what they'd like them to write, to help make the process go faster. Would you recommend for/against this?

However, I have a few questions about this, if this is a viable approach:

Is it appropriate to ask them to write about things they didn't necessarily see? Specifically, in one of my classes, I helped tutor some of the other students, but the professor wouldn't have seen this. Can I ask him to write about it?

Can I ask a professor to mention how challenging a specific class was, and that the grade was hard won?

Basically, do medical schools expect these letters to essentially be extensions of my essays, or do they expect the professors to write them without too much outside input?

Finally, do you have any advice on how to make one of those "Got an A in my class" letters sound better? It seems more than likely that's all I'm going to get.

(My school does not provide committee letters.)

 

[Catalystik]

I'm reaching out to a handful of professors who might remember me, and one TA I was on good terms with. Hopefully, one will be willing to write something.

1) I've heard some people include drafts/suggestions of what they'd like them to write, to help make the process go faster. Would you recommend for/against this?

However, I have a few questions about this, if this is a viable approach:

2) Is it appropriate to ask them to write about things they didn't necessarily see? Specifically, in one of my classes, I helped tutor some of the other students, but the professor wouldn't have seen this. Can I ask him to write about it?

3) Can I ask a professor to mention how challenging a specific class was, and that the grade was hard won?

4) Basically, do medical schools expect these letters to essentially be extensions of my essays, or do they expect the professors to write them without too much outside input?

5) Finally, do you have any advice on how to make one of those "Got an A in my class" letters sound better? It seems more than likely that's all I'm going to get.

(My school does not provide committee letters.)

1) Suggestions of things to include would be fine. Offering a draft would be very tacky, unless the professor asks you for one (and this does happen sometimes).

2) No. But you can ask if they were aware that you had done the tutoring (other students might have mentioned it), and if they say yes, you could ask for it to be included.

3) Usually this is done anyway, but you can ask that they mention where your grade lay among the As given and what percent of the class got an A.

4) The quality of the letter is likely to be much better without outside input, if the professor has experience writing them.

5) That's the reason I suggested above that you bring supplemental materials and spend a half hour getting to know each other.