Physician Recommendation question.

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rohitbest

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I'm applying to med school this year and I was wondering how important it is to get a physician to write you a letter of recommendation. I feel that it is important for a doctor to say that you are competent and good enough for medical school as opposed to a chemistry/biology professor. But I wanted to see if having a physician write a letter for you greatly enhanced your application. So how many of you had a doctor write a letter for you?

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I wish I could answer your question better, but here's what I can say. I don't think not having a letter from a physician will hurt you, but I'd also venture to say that a good letter from a physician could only help.

I have one from a doctor I know who is also a faculty member at Mt. Sinai, and I sure hope it helps. :)
 
Many (if not most?) REQUIRE a letter from a physician.
 
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Originally posted by Billie:
•Many (if not most?) REQUIRE a letter from a physician.•

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Bille on that, I've never heard of a single med school requiring a letter from a physician. Most require one or two letters from science professors, in addition to one or two from anyone that knows you well. I don't think it's that important to get a letter from a physician, most people don't know any physicians well enough in a professional setting to ask them to write a letter on their behalf. Be careful if you do get a physician to write a letter for you though, try to get a letter from physician that works in an academic setting because they know what is supposed to go into a letter of recommendation, some physicians that just practice medicine might not know how to write a good letter of recommendation.
 
I believe most if not all DO schools require a letter from a physician, whereas few if any MD schools require one.
 
thanks fore the replies, yes, i know that most DO schools require a physician recommendation, but I know many MD schools do not REQUIRE one, because I asked this to everyone i'm applying to. They do say that they will accept one, so I was wondering how many applicants actually get one. This is because I have been volunteering in a hospital setting for a year or more now, and was just wondering if I should ask the doctor. I know it couldn't hurt, so I guess I should.
 
Good points everyone! I admit I was speaking from an osteopathic point of view in that my school requires one. I applied to one MD school in my home state that required one too, but that I guess is rare.

Thanks!

Billie, MS-IV
 
I did not get a letter from a doctor. But if you do, realize that a letter of recommendation can definitely be harmful. If you ask a doctor to write you one, (1)make sure the doctor knows what he is doing, (2) make sure he can write you a STRONG letter (don't be afraid to ask), (3) and if he doesn't know you that well, maybe try getting one from someone else in the hospital (e.g. PA or nurse) who knows you better. It really doesn't matter if it's from a doctor as opposed to someone else working in the hospital. Just be careful, I'm speaking from experience.
 
Originally posted by impassivemd:
•I did not get a letter from a doctor. But if you do, realize that a letter of recommendation can definitely be harmful. If you ask a doctor to write you one, (1)make sure the doctor knows what he is doing, (2) make sure he can write you a STRONG letter (don't be afraid to ask), (3) and if he doesn't know you that well, maybe try getting one from someone else in the hospital (e.g. PA or nurse) who knows you better. It really doesn't matter if it's from a doctor as opposed to someone else working in the hospital. Just be careful, I'm speaking from experience.•

Thanks impassive md, thats another thing I was thinking about. Many of the nurses, and especially the volunteer coordinator knows me and my skilss much better. I just didn't know if its better to get a decent letter from a doc, or a from a nurse who knows me better. Thanks for the replies.
 
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