Question about LORs

[mrfunnyman]

Say that if I was on the med school track before finally deciding that it was not for me, and that optometry was a better fit for me. However, when I got my LOR writers to do a letter for me, they addressed it for medical school. Would this be a problem when applying for optometry school?

The letter would be the same otherwise, it talks about my qualities and qualifications to be a health care provider. And I do note about this change of heart in the personal statement. Do you think that the admission committees would care about this?

 

[EyEnStein 07]

well...if the LOR is addressed to medical school..and you sent it to an optometry school, i could see that being a problem.

a change of heart on a personal statement would be good if thats what you really want to talk about. But im almost sure since most of your activities are probably "medical" related..and you list it all, it will come up in the interview as something you would have to explain.

Its probably best if you got a LOR from an OD instead of an MD

 

[cloud99]

I'm pretty sure you HAVE to have a letter from an OD. OptomCAS allows you to name 4 recommenders. Most schools want 2 science prof's and one OD or 1 committee letter and one OD. The extra letter(s) can be from extra OD's or can be a personal reference from an employer or an extracurricular. I don't see why your MD letter couldn't be used as one of your extras.

 

[jymezg]

The letter would be the same otherwise, it talks about my qualities and qualifications to be a health care provider

Usually schools prefer that you waive your right to read your letters. If not admissions wonders how honest the letter writers actually were knowing that you were reading the letter.

(ie if they spoke negatively, you could choose not to send the letter in...which decreases the merit of the letter.)

 

[mrfunnyman]

Just to clarify,
I have been able to get an OD letter, and I think enough optometry related experiences as well. And I did not read the letters, for sakes of confidentiality. I was just assuming the content of the letter would have been the same whether I asked the writer to address it for medical school or optometry school.

I was asking particularly in the case of professors, whom I asked to write me a letter long ago when I was still serious about medicine. I asked them to write me a letter for medical school and kept it in the school's letter service. Now that I have changed my mind to do optometry, I was wondering if I could still use these letters that my professors wrote for me. These professors know me best and I don't want to give them the trouble of rewriting my letters.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[OpticalBlackOut]

Just to clarify,
I have been able to get an OD letter, and I think enough optometry related experiences as well. And I did not read the letters, for sakes of confidentiality. I was just assuming the content of the letter would have been the same whether I asked the writer to address it for medical school or optometry school.

I was asking particularly in the case of professors, whom I asked to write me a letter long ago when I was still serious about medicine. I asked them to write me a letter for medical school and kept it in the school's letter service. Now that I have changed my mind to do optometry, I was wondering if I could still use these letters that my professors wrote for me. These professors know me best and I don't want to give them the trouble of rewriting my letters.

Thanks for your replies.

I would try arranging a meeting with these professors, and ask them whether or not they have your letters saved on their computers.
They usually save letters for future references, and it really shouldn't be too hard to change "dear medical school committee" to "dear optometry school committee" on their part.

I personally wouldn't submit the unchanged medical school letters...if you really want to go to optometry school, you should go through the hoops to make it happen.

 

[mrfunnyman]

sounds good. thanks.