Science LOR, Important? Help!

[DblHelix]

Hey everyone,

I'm actually not applying to medical school untill this coming summer but I wanted to ask how important having TWO science faculty letters of rec are. I'm a psychology major and all the science classes I take have been massive 600+ people classes. I can get one science prof's rec (won't be all the personal though) for sure, but two will be really difficult! On the other hand, I can get two great psychology prof recs, one of whom is a Neurologist MD but in the psych department.

What do you all think? Did anyone out there apply with only one science faculty member rec?

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[drmota]

Hey everyone,

I'm actually not applying to medical school untill this coming summer but I wanted to ask how important having TWO science faculty letters of rec are. I'm a psychology major and all the science classes I take have been massive 600+ people classes. I can get one science prof's rec (won't be all the personal though) for sure, but two will be really difficult! On the other hand, I can get two great psychology prof recs, one of whom is a Neurologist MD but in the psych department.

What do you all think? Did anyone out there apply with only one science faculty member rec?

i would highly emphasize getting TWO letters from SCIENCE (i.e. chem physics or bio) professors. almost every school i applied to required it. Psychology is considered a behavioral science by med school and therefore won't count. HOWEVER, definitely get those 2 psychology professors to give you recs. I'm sure they will carry equal weight to your science letters. And one last tip is for your science letters, try to find old or retiring professors. Thats what I did...I hardly knew the guy, I asked him if we could meet and chat, we did for about an hour (mostly him talking about his grandkids) and then he wrote my letter THAT SAME DAY. and when I needed a supplemental form filled out for U of M, he did it THE SAME DAY I asked. keep in mind this was one of those 600 person classes and I barely knew the guy. But by the time I asked him he was retiring and had plenty of free time. Good luck.
-mota

 

[drmota]

p.s. to answer your question, they won't care that the guy is a neurologist MD, its all about what CLASS you took with him. But definitely get the guy to write you a letter, they'll see that he's an MD and that's a good thing.
-mota

 

[DblHelix]

p.s. to answer your question, they won't care that the guy is a neurologist MD, its all about what CLASS you took with him. But definitely get the guy to write you a letter, they'll see that he's an MD and that's a good thing.
-mota

Has anyone out there applied/been accepted with only one science faculty letter of rec?

 

[drmota]

Has anyone out there applied/been accepted with only one science faculty letter of rec?

um, can you stop asking questions and go find a 2nd science LOR? gosh.
-mota

 

[Flopotomist]

you can also broaden how you define a science professor - I had the PIs I do research with (who are professors, but whom I have never taken a class with) write the letters, and nobody cared. But yeah - you need two, just go get it.

 

[DblHelix]

um, can you stop asking questions and go find a 2nd science LOR? gosh.
-mota

The problem is that I'm a senior (taking a year off) and won't be taking any more science classes.
So Mota, if you aren't going to be helpful, please don't respond to this post and just ignore it, thank you.

 

[Saluki]

Mota did give you some good advice... No reason to get huffy...
As for additional suggestions, did you have a grad student in those classes? If not, then just go ahead and ask the profs. Be HUMBLE- I know there were a lot of people in the class, but I'm applying to med school and I need two letters... They'll probably write you one, and if the schools require two, then you need to have two. No sense in whining about it to us- find someone and then get your psychology profs to write you letters as well. The weak letters from the big lecture prof will probably balance out if you have one good science prof letter and a couple strong ones from psychology profs...

 

[lovemedhateap]

I applied with only one science professor's rec. the only other science one was from a summer research job i had. the rest were from humanities-related classes and jobs. the process seems to be going ok for me (as in, i'm getting interviews. i haven't been accepted anywhere yet so this might be premature). I would guess that they'd rather read something that is actually about you from a non-science person than get some kind of form letter from a person who lectured to 600 ppl. just a thought

 

[MollyMalone]

FWIW, I also used a rec from my PI as my second science LOR (and my first one was from a large class and a professor who didn't know me all that well). I have gotten interviews from places that said they wanted 2 science LOR's, so I guess they decided to count it. I am a non-science major though, so maybe they were extra-understanding.