Physician asked me to write the LOR? Any tips?

[Deja.Entendu]

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I shadowed a physician but she essentially told me to write the letter of recommendation myself. She'll go over it and make some personal edits/additions. Then she'll just slap that on her professional letterhead. I can honestly say that I've never been asked to do that before, I've always had my letter writers actually write their own letters! But with that being said can someone point me to some general tips on how I should write this letter? Or if there is an existing thread, I'd greatly appreciate the link. I haven't found any helpful ones yet in my search.

I greatly appreciate any help! Also, is this extremely common? I was kinda taken aback by this request and really don't know what to make of it.

 

[fhockey13]

Ugh this isn't that uncommon I had to do this when getting a LOR from a surgeon I shadowed in undergrad. I think I googled examples of LORs for med school apps/clinical shadowing and created something similar (btw its awkward AF to compliment your strengths from someone elses perspective so expect to cringe several times while drafting this thing). And when you send the first draft to her dont be surprised if you end up having to re-do the whole letter (this also happened to me and thank god it did because he told me specific things to write in it and focus on).

If you google "writing your own recommendation letter for someone else to sign" theres links and articles that come up

 

[Spr1ngrolls]

I had to write my own letter of recommendation for someone who i've had a HUGE commitment of work for (a PI... and a surgeon surprisingly like @fhockey13 ). What I basically did was re-emphasize the things in my application that I really needed the adcoms to see. The way I see it, it's your chance to brag and really nail the points in our application to make it stand out, so do so accordingly.

The process is very uncomfortable, but don't let that stop you. My mentality is that they probably would of said the same anyways if you put in the work, so don't be shy.

1. Start with how you know the individual (time, relationship, make general references to what the physician does)
2. Pick 1-2 ideas that you REALLY need emphasized in your application, and MAKE SURE that it's clear (I chose to include a story of specific events)
3. Obviously dont make the physician sound like they were kissing your feet or otherwise make them sound like a fool. They won't enjoy that at all.
4. Embellishments of events are okay, but keep it within the realm of reality

 

[zukunft195]

I shadowed a physician but she essentially told me to write the letter of recommendation myself. She'll go over it and make some personal edits/additions. Then she'll just slap that on her professional letterhead. I can honestly say that I've never been asked to do that before, I've always had my letter writers actually write their own letters! But with that being said can someone point me to some general tips on how I should write this letter? Or if there is an existing thread, I'd greatly appreciate the link. I haven't found any helpful ones yet in my search.

I greatly appreciate any help! Also, is this extremely common? I was kinda taken aback by this request and really don't know what to make of it.

Lucky you.

 

[Dr. Souk]

Yeh - don't be too overawed by the task, and don't be too shy either. This is not that un-common not surprising given how over-committed these guys are.

 

[Dagrimsta1]

Be honest. And don't take too long writing it... These things tend to stretch out when you overthink it