PI LOR issue

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fawkes94

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She sounds super conceited. I wouldn't risk it; go with your lab professor.
 
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Did the PI tell the grad student as a rant or for the grad student to specifically tell you? If it's the former, act like you don't know and go approach your PI and ask how things are going blah blah...then ask her straight up if she would feel comfortable writing a STRONG LOR. Then you have your answer. She won't lie to your face..
 
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Honestly, someone who is willing to withhold a letter just because of a minor inconvenience like a disorganized notebook isn't someone I'm comfortable writing a strong letter. It's a risk of having a bad letter.
 
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It's stories like these that make me so grateful to have chosen the PI that I did...They went out of their way to insist I allow them to write a letter on my behalf and would do whatever was in their power to help me as best as they could.
 
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She sounds super conceited. I wouldn't risk it; go with your lab professor.

Did the PI tell the grad student as a rant or for the grad student to specifically tell you? If it's the former, act like you don't know and go approach your PI and ask how things are going blah blah...then ask her straight up if she would feel comfortable writing a STRONG LOR. Then you have your answer. She won't lie to your face..

Honestly, someone who is willing to withhold a letter just because of a minor inconvenience like a disorganized notebook isn't someone I'm comfortable writing a strong letter. It's a risk of having a bad letter.

Thanks for the responses! Yeah, I'll probably not use her letter. She said it in a rant to her grad student, and not directly to me but it still doesn't sit right with me. The grad student suggested I wait a couple of days and then contact the PI, asking if I can organize my book to her liking in a roundabout way, but I honestly just wished she had emailed me and talked to me if she was unhappy with my work
 
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It's stories like these that make me so grateful to have chosen the PI that I did...They went out of their way to insist I allow them to write a letter on my behalf and would do whatever was in their power to help me as best as they could.

See the thing is, up until now she was really nice to my face, and offered to write a letter and be a reference multiple times. I've seen her get mad at other students and rant to me or other students about them, but never confront them, so I guess it was only time until she turned on me
 
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See the thing is, up until now she was really nice to my face, and offered to write a letter and be a reference multiple times. I've seen her get mad at other students and rant to me or other students about them, but never confront them, so I guess it was only time until she turned on me
Eh doesn't mean your PI is actually mad at you or won't write a strong letter...it's worth checking IMO.

Some PIs can be very uptight around grant submission times etc..RO1s are due June 5 sooooo....
 
No one will care if you don't have a LOR from a PI.

Frankly, a bad LOR from her will mean you will never, ever be a doctor. Don't take the chance.


So I had always planned on getting a letter from my PI, who I had also taken a science class with. I asked her a month before I graduated and she said yes. Today, I get a text from one of the grad students who I worked with in this PIs lab, which basically says that the PI saw my lab notebook and since it wasn't organized in the way she wanted she was considering not writing me a letter. She said this all to the grad student and not me, but the grad student suggested I wait a couple of days and then come up to organize the notebook. Even if I do this, should I use the PIs letter? For her to say that, makes her feelings for me very clear and she is known for being very passive aggressive and I don't want her to write anything bad in the letter. To replace her letter, I could ask a lab professor who taught a lab during my last semester. He was impressed with my grade in the class and we talked a little, but we didn't have a long relationship like with the PI so it will probably be very generic. If I do this, how bad would it be not to have a letter from someone who I did 1.5 years of research with? Sorry for the long post, but I'm freaking out with having this happen so close to submitting my application
 
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No one will care if you don't have a LOR from a PI.

Frankly, a bad LOR from her will mean you will never, ever be a doctor. Don't take the chance.
Some schools care. I've heard mimelim say that it's a big red flag.

Obviously OP shouldn't get one from this PI though, agreed on that account.
 
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So do you guys suggest offering to organize it for her and getting a feel of if she will write me a good letter, or not bothering? Which one would be the bigger risk?


Eh doesn't mean your PI is actually mad at you or won't write a strong letter...it's worth checking IMO.

Some PIs can be very uptight around grant submission times etc..RO1s are due June 5 sooooo....

No one will care if you don't have a LOR from a PI.

Frankly, a bad LOR from her will mean you will never, ever be a doctor. Don't take the chance.

Some schools care. I've heard mimelim say that it's a big red flag.

Obviously OP shouldn't get one from this PI though, agreed on that account.
 
So do you guys suggest offering to organize it for her and getting a feel of if she will write me a good letter, or not bothering? Which one would be the bigger risk?
Well I don't think you have anything to lose by asking her if she would write a strong LOR for you. Don't even bring up the notebook.
 
I don't think that you can afford to take the risk of reorganizing it and hoping that magically she'll change her tone.

Pay very careful attention. Bad LORs are so rare, that they will sink your application.

Proceed at your own risk.

So do you guys suggest offering to organize it for her and getting a feel of if she will write me a good letter, or not bothering? Which one would be the bigger risk?
 
I don't think that you can afford to take the risk of reorganizing it and hoping that magically she'll change her tone.

Pay very careful attention. Bad LORs are so rare, that they will sink your application.

Proceed at your own risk.
By "bad LOR" do you mean somebody that directly says that they don't think the applicant is qualified for medical school?
 
So do you guys suggest offering to organize it for her and getting a feel of if she will write me a good letter, or not bothering? Which one would be the bigger risk?
No, I wouldn't risk it.
(odds of it being a bad letter) x (impact of a bad letter) >>>> (odds of it being a good letter) x (impact of a good letter)
 
It might not be that blatant. Terms like "couldn't follow simple instructions", poor team player, constantly late, unreliable or blamed others for his/her mistakes" wou'd be enough.




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QUOTE="bananafish94, post: 17794473, member: 726514"]By "bad LOR" do you mean somebody that directly says that they don't think the applicant is qualified for medical school?[/QUOTE]
 
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Thanks for the advice and replies everybody! The lab professor got back to me and said he was willing to write me a letter, but he will be out of the country from next week to July 7, and will only be able to write it after. This means that he'll probably have it submitted around the end of July, if not later. Is this too late? He's my only other option at this point
 
Thanks for the advice and replies everybody! The lab professor got back to me and said he was willing to write me a letter, but he will be out of the country from next week to July 7, and will only be able to write it after. This means that he'll probably have it submitted around the end of July, if not later. Is this too late? He's my only other option at this point
Nope that's fine. Most schools probably won't even look at LORs until August if not later.
 
Did you end up just sending a letter from your lab professor then? I'm confused too about the importance of a PI letter from a lab you've worked in for a long time.. Some people are saying admissions people won't even notice, while others are saying that it'd be a red flag..
 
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