Recommendations!!??

[futrorthodr]

I have two questions for you guys and gals. The first question is that I have four recommendations so far one from a science professor one from a non-science, one from my oral surgeon and the final one from the dean at a medical school who is the father of one of my best friends. The problem i have is that many of the secondaries are asking for recs from two science profs. Do you think that dean could be considered a science prof or am I in the predicament of having to find an old prof to write one. I graduated last Dec. and dont really know any other profs personally enough to feel that they could write me a good rec.

the second question is how do you go about addressing envelopes from recommenders to send to the various schools so that they know who's application it is supposed to go with.

Thanks in advance

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[ambrosia]

I would try to get another one from a science prof who taught you, because many med schools specify that they want 2 from science profs who taught you. I was in a similar situation until about a week ago, because I also had only one from a chem prof who taught me, one from my boss in the lab i work in, and one from a humanities prof. So I ended up emailing a biochem prof I had a while back who barely knew me at all but I got an A in the class. Rather than just asking for a letter I explained my situation and asked if I could set up a meeting with him so we could talk and he could get to know me a little, and then write me a letter. It ended up working out great, I think I got a pretty strong letter from him even though I barely knew him before our metting. I would suggest doing something like this.
As far as sending the letters, my school has a reference letter center so I just have all my writers send the letters to them, and they keep them on file and send them to whatever schools I ask them to. I'd suggest doing that if you have something similar at your school. Alternatively, I know that there are some other companies out there that will do the same thing - hold all your letters and send them out at your request, but don't know many details since I don't use them .
I hope this helps

 

[ambrosia]

Oh, and no matter how you end up sending the letters, make sure your amcas ID # is included with them.

 

[Radio Edit]

I have two questions for you guys and gals. The first question is that I have four recommendations so far one from a science professor one from a non-science, one from my oral surgeon and the final one from the dean at a medical school who is the father of one of my best friends. The problem i have is that many of the secondaries are asking for recs from two science profs. Do you think that dean could be considered a science prof or am I in the predicament of having to find an old prof to write one. I graduated last Dec. and dont really know any other profs personally enough to feel that they could write me a good rec.

the second question is how do you go about addressing envelopes from recommenders to send to the various schools so that they know who's application it is supposed to go with.

Thanks in advance

yea, get another one.

 

[Elastase]

Arrrghh....

I am screwed when it comes to LOR. I got all Bs in my upperdiv science classes....My lowerdiv sciences were at community college.... I figured I would get one from a humanities professor, and then one from my P.I at UCSF, and one from a neurosurgeon I know....Do you REALLY need science classes letters of recommendations? I swear I heard that they just have to be academic, as in a doctor can write you one....This is the part of the application process I fear the most.

 

[aparecida]

Even if you got a B, if you had a good relationship with the professor, that's fine. I mean, a B is still "good" work at most places, and the professor just needs to be able to say that they know you and you're a hard worker who seems committed to the medical profession, etc. (have them meet with you for a 30-minute-ish interview so they can talk to you and get to know you before they write it).

 

[futrorthodr]

Do you think putting my amcas ID# in the address to the school would be sufficient for the adcoms to get it in the right file??

 

[Jason110]

Do you think putting my amcas ID# in the address to the school would be sufficient for the adcoms to get it in the right file??

You'll more than likely screw up the post office when they're delivering it. 87% of all first-class mail in the United States is read via OCR (optical character recognition) so a computer reads the address and tacks on the barcode that you see at the bottom of letters. From there, the barcode guides the letter to its destination.

I would say don't put such a personal piece of information on the outside. What if it gets in the wrong hands. Just tell your recommenders to put your AAMC ID on your letter.

Jason

 

[Elastase]

aparecida:

Yeah, but I went to berkeley...I didn't get to know my professors because every single molecular bio class had three professors per semester (and they usually sucked). I don't see someone truly writing you a good recommendation while just knowing you for 30min, especially in my case where I recieved a B. More likely they will write a paragraph... On the other hand someone that knows me well (my M.D. PI) could write a great letter.

Does someone know of anyone that sent a professional's LOR (MD, pHD in lab), and NOT any professors LOR?

 

[sfbear]

Most places, if you graduated before 2001, you can substitute letters without a problem. I graduated in 2001, so I've been contacting schools about LOR reqs. Some, like NYMC, are really strict about having professors that actually taught you. Most of them are flexible and are okay with just two science letters. There's a thread (I think it's called "don't have the right LORs") about which schools are more flexible. I've also been including a letter in my app - especially if all I have is a verbal okay - explaining the situation (i.e. been out for a while, went to UCB, mom was sick, etc. etc.).

 

[Highspirits]

As far as sending the letters, my school has a reference letter center so I just have all my writers send the letters to them, and they keep them on file and send them to whatever schools I ask them to. I'd suggest doing that if you have something similar at your school. Alternatively, I know that there are some other companies out there that will do the same thing - hold all your letters and send them out at your request, but don't know many details since I don't use them .
I hope this helps

My school offers a service like that too. However, one of my recommenders asked me to whom he should address the letter? I told him to address the letter "to whom it may concern". Is it correct?

Thanks.

 

[ambrosia]

hmmm, good question, none of my recommenders have ever asked me who to address it to, so i have no idea what they write . that sounds fine to me though.