References

[DrHoneyBee]

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Hi, I have a question about References. I am a non-trad applicant and I have not taken classes for 3 1/2 years. I am finishing my last pre-req's in the summer and applying this summer(for 2007). My question is, who can I ask for a reference. I emailed the pre-med advisor from the college that I graduated from and asked him for a reference and he said no because he doesn't know me (which makes sense, I guess). Most of the professors I took science classes with are no longer at the school. I have a Psychology degree so I didn't take too many science classes. I have plenty of Psychology and work related references but no science professors. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[DrHoneyBee]

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[DragonWell]

Hi, I have a question about References. I am a non-trad applicant and I have not taken classes for 3 1/2 years. I am finishing my last pre-req's in the summer and applying this summer(for 2007). My question is, who can I ask for a reference. I emailed the pre-med advisor from the college that I graduated from and asked him for a reference and he said no because he doesn't know me (which makes sense, I guess). Most of the professors I took science classes with are no longer at the school. I have a Psychology degree so I didn't take too many science classes. I have plenty of Psychology and work related references but no science professors. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I was in a similar situation. Here's a couple suggestions.

One of your letters should be from a doc, preferably DO, although it may not really matter too much. Most folks shadow a doc for 0 - many hours and then ask for a letter. The trick here is to ask early.

What prereqs are you finishing? If it is possible, ask one of those teachers for a letter.

You should be aware that some schools (PCOM comes to mind) are pretty strict about needing an advisor or committee letter from the undergrad institution. Since I had been out of school for ~10 years and the advisor didn't know me, what I did was have my employer write a letter, a teacher write a letter, a personal reference letter, and my DO letter all sent to the advisor, who bascially just added some academic information and then cut and pasted a composite "pre-med advisor letter" from them. According to the advisor at my school, this is pretty common, so hopefully you can find someone who is willing to do it for you. That was the key for me - most advisors weren't too helpful, so it took several trips/phone calls to find somebody who was actually willing to help. (Shocking isn't it - an unhelpful pre-med advisor!) 😱

Just keep at it and don't give up! 👍