research, but no letter!

[icekream]

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i started doing my research hoping to pursue a md/phd

as time went on, however, i decided to pursue only the md degree.. my PI was not happy, and our relationship soured.

long story short, i was not able to get a letter from my PI, even though i had worked in the lab for about 12-14 months.

will this raise a red flag? im still debating whether or not i should lie on my amcas application and say i only worked for a couple of months, so they dont question why i dont have a letter on file from my research.

whats the best way to approach this situation? whats my "excuse" for not getting a letter? (getting one is out of the realm of possiblity at this point, 100%)

 

[BlueElmo]

i started doing my research hoping to pursue a md/phd

as time went on, however, i decided to pursue only the md degree.. my PI was not happy, and our relationship soured.

long story short, i was not able to get a letter from my PI, even though i had worked in the lab for about 12-14 months.

will this raise a red flag? im still debating whether or not i should lie on my amcas application and say i only worked for a couple of months, so they dont question why i dont have a letter on file from my research.

whats the best way to approach this situation? whats my "excuse" for not getting a letter? (getting one is out of the realm of possiblity at this point, 100%)

you could explain your situation in secondaries or interviews.

Wow, what is with all these sudden deluge of posts on bitter PIs hating on us pre-meds?

 

[MJ is KING]

DO NOT make your research experience shorter than it actually was. Having 1 year looks A LOT better than 3/4 months etc, if anything, people try to make their experiences seem longer.

Its OK that you don't have a letter. I applied last year and had experience in 3 different research labs under 3 different PIs. I earned 2 publications (same lab) and had ZERO letters of rec from research! You only have 1 PI so its fine. I was never asked to justify this. I think I was ok because I got other letters of rec to compensate and there is a limit at each school so its OK not to have letters from each experience.

BTW, I got into multiple top 10 programs.

Good luck.

 

[aznb0y129]

To the OP, a similar thread was created on this topic that you may want to refer to as well: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=627488

 

[icekream]

thanks for the reply guys,

yea i checked out that other thread, but they werent really talking about the letter situation, more about md/phd relationship dynamics.

are you sure they wont wonder why i didnt get a letter? i have 2 science, 1 non science, and 1 md letter. this was sent to the committee at my school, and they wrote me a committee letter.

on a tangent... do schools look at letters besides your committee letter, since all of the letters are sent to the schools in a "letter packet" meaning 2-3 page committee letter, and the rest 6-8 pages of 4 individual letters.

thanks 🙂

 

[Appless]

Some schools will think its a red flag you dont have a PI letter after a long term experience (such as UCI) and others wont. I think overall its probably not too big a deal. Dont think ive ever heard someone not getting accepted for this reason😉. Some schools will care but id imagine a majority wont even notice.

 

[icekream]

if asked in the interview "i didnt see a letter from your research experience"

how would you respond?

 

[rocketbooster]

if asked in the interview "i didnt see a letter from your research experience"

how would you respond?

I'm in a similar boat but my research was only for 6 months. I already have 5 letters from my committee letter AND an amazing one from my clinical volunteer coordinator who I volunteered for way longer and did way more for than for my research PI.

in an interview, if asked the above question, I am going to say "I spoke with schools and they told me to just get 1 new letter for this year and use my old committee letters. I could have gotten one from my research PI but they told me it was unnecessary." that's that. it's also the truth, though. you'll come up with a good answer. it should be easy to explain.

 

[Appless]

if asked in the interview "i didnt see a letter from your research experience"

how would you respond?

Not sure but defiantly dont tell them what you told us. That could really look bad on you imo (though im sure its not your fault).

 

[BlueElmo]

if asked in the interview "i didnt see a letter from your research experience"

how would you respond?

I would say I already have 5 letters on file and I thought that was too many already. And I never thought I was supposed to get a research letter from a PI.

 

[icekream]

Not sure but defiantly dont tell them what you told us. That could really look bad on you imo (though im sure its not your fault).

lol yea, i figured it would not be in my best interest to tell them the "truth"

i guess since im applying through my committee and they didnt have any objections, schools shouldnt either.

its unfortunate what happened, out of my control, probably bitter for whatever reason. i just dont want schools to think im lying about my experience.