Possible LOR red flags?

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Heavens Cloud

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Hey all,

I'm preparing my LORs for this cycle, so far I have:

1) Doctor I work for as an ED Scribe (GREAT letter, he offered to write one without my asking)
2) Ochem professor (Great letter) - science letter
3) History professor (Good, didn't know him super well during class but he's really nice and will write a good letter) - nonscience letter
4) Math professor (Great letter) - science letter

I will probably ask for a letter from another physician that I work for too.

My questions are:

1) I am a biology major, will it look bad to not have a LOR from my major? The professors from the biology dept at my university are either full of themselves or plain rude. I'm holding a 3.9 sGPA but never really went to office hours. I mean, I could probably eek out a letter from one of the professors but it wouldn't necessarily be great.

2) My school does not have a pre-med committee, and I didn't get to know my advisor very well. Does it look bad to not have any advisor letter at all?

3) The math letter should work for most schools as a science letter, correct? He taught my Calculus class.

Thanks in advance.
 
Math will most likely not count as a science LOR. I've called many schools about this because I was wondering myself, but just to play it safe, get another "hard science" LOR
 
You don't need to ask for yet another physician letter. Five would be way past over kill. Heck even 4 is pushing it...I would just stick with the 2 science and 1 non-science if I were you since that meets the requirements of the vast majority of schools and an extra letter especially from a physician doesn't add much....but it's your call.

See if you can get a better non-science letter though instead of your current history one.
 
You don't need to ask for yet another physician letter. Five would be way past over kill. Heck even 4 is pushing it...I would just stick with the 2 science and 1 non-science if I were you since that meets the requirements of the vast majority of schools and an extra letter especially from a physician doesn't add much....but it's your call.

See if you can get a better non-science letter though instead of your current history one.

No.

Include the 4th ED Physician LOR.
 
You don't need to ask for yet another physician letter. Five would be way past over kill. Heck even 4 is pushing it...I would just stick with the 2 science and 1 non-science if I were you since that meets the requirements of the vast majority of schools and an extra letter especially from a physician doesn't add much....but it's your call.

See if you can get a better non-science letter though instead of your current history one.

I will definitely include the ED physician letter because he can speak to how I work in the clinical setting.

I did some searching and there seems to be no clear consensus on whether or not a Math LOR will work as a science letter. Some posts say it will work, as it falls under the BCPM, yet some (as above) say it won't. 😕 Anyone have personal experience when they were applying?
 
It is never specified to be a letter from your major because they don't care about that. They care about science in general, so don't worry about no bio letters. Nobody will reject a 3.9 based on "why didn't they send a letter from someone in their major?"

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Make sure you check on the school websites. One school I'm applying to says one science letter has to be from a professor in your major and the other science letter from a professor not in your major. Just be aware that some schools have specific requirements like this.
 
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