Rec Letters

[deleted388502]

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Just a point of curiosity from people's own personal experiences, at a big state school, who did you get your letter of recs from in the sciences?

I go to a huge state school and to my professors office hours. My gen chem and ochem profs know me by name, but I'm just in the sea of 40-50 other pre-meds in that semester alone that the professor will remember. The rec letter's won't be particularly oustanding and this concerns me.

Obviously within my major and through other classes I have rec letters, but I'm just curious as to how would be best to approach these kinds of situations? I don't just want a generic letter of rec, but I feel like it's impossible from pre-req profs at big state schools.

 

[poohbear23]

*bump* I'm interested in this as well.

 

[ukae]

I too, am very worried.
I think I've read somewhere that you can approach a professor (that you somewhat know) and be like "Hi, I don't feel comfortable asking you for a letter yet but could I talk to you about my motivations for medicine blah blah"
Has anyone done this before haha I'm a shy person..

 

[deleted388502]

Bump

 

[chopes31]

I went to a large state school and got my letters from my research professor and professors who taught my smaller, upper-level classes.

 

[snorlax]

I went to one of the biggest public schools in the country and got letters from professors that I got to know personally in the course and I met with on a weekly basis. I never discussed my motivations for going into medicine with my professors, and I did not ask them for a letter of recommendation until after I had completed their courses. What you are describing sounds awkward, in my opinion, unless you already have a great relationship with your professor.

My recommendation is to seek letters from professors in smaller courses, like upper-division lab classes, rather than lower-division huge lecture classes. I feel like professors who run lab or research-oriented courses have more valuable stuff to comment on, anyway, in terms of your candidacy for pursuing medicine from an academic standpoint.