Non-Trad Application: Choosing Letters of Rec?

[MiddleEMed]

Hi all!

I have a bit of a unique dilemma – I graduated undergrad 4 years ago, making me "non-traditional". I use quotations as I've been doing fairly traditional things since graduating; research and clinical coordinator roles.

I've been blessed in that my supervisors throughout this time and also my volunteering coordinators (I am heavily involved in several volunteering roles in a non-profit for an underserved community in my city) showed me the letters of recommendation that they're writing for me. They're honestly fantastic, and I've been quite emotional reading them.

That said, there are some medical schools out there that are much more flexible with their letter of recommendation policies than others. Some demand 2x science professors who taught you in an academic setting. As such, I reached out to two professors from undergrad... I got "A"s in their classes, and they liked me at the time. But I took those classes in 2018/2019, and the letters are also confidential. They said they would write "strong" letters, but I'm certain they'll at least be somewhat generic given the amount of time that's passed (I don't have illusions of grandeur – I know I didn't make an impression that lasted 5+ years and a pandemic lol).

My question is this – for schools that have more "open" LoR policies (basically saying submit whichever) – would I be OK leaving out the 2 older science letters I have that may be of "meh" (i.e. decent but generic) quality, and just using research/job/volunteering ones that are more recent but I know are strong? Or is there an unspoken rule that at least one of the letters should be "traditional"?

Thank you so much for any advice!

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[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Just send the two prof letters. Even if they're more open, they expect to see academic letters and they expect 95% of them to be generic.

 

[stew_md]

I am in nearly the same boat as you, I graduated in 2020 and did a DIY postbac. I just reached out to two instructors I had during my post bac for science letters. I wasn't able to get a non-science professor letter. I think its reasonable that schools expect some sort of science letter or two to get an outside perspective of who you are as a student. I think you should also use those letters from supervisors as I'm sure those will be very valuable for your candidacy. Some schools are very strict about wanting science letters, or no more than 3 letters, etc. Try to add some schools to your list that will accept additional letters if you want schools to have that additional perspective

Honestly I was just as concerned as you were about letters sounding generic, but I feel that this is incredibly common for academic letters. If they do write you an amazing letter, great but I don't think you should worry too much about having a generic letter science letter. Given your non-traditional status it might be understandable that you don't have the most amazing science letter.

I don't think there is an unspoken rule, only policies that schools have that you should try your best to follow. If you have questions for a specific school, reach out to their admissions office via email.

I think if a school has a more "open" letter policy as you mentioned, you should aim for the following:
- 1-2 science letters
- 1 clinical letter (from manager or physician)
- 1-2 letters from your volunteer endeavors (depending on the school)
- 1 letter from research PI