Sending CV to letter writers, always required?

[MedicineZ0Z]

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Even in cases of them knowing you quite well?

 

[Mad Jack]

Mine all wanted one

 

[Stuck on CCL2]

Mine always wanted them as well! Some even wanted to see my personal statements/cover letters. This included people that knew me very well such as my PI who I worked with for 3 years.

 

[ortnakas]

Not always, but pretty typical.

 

[Crayola227]

I actually think it's pretty unprofessional to ask for an LOR and not provide one.

In fact, I recommend that someone search my post history for a post I made on creating a "letter of recommendation writer packet."

When I was pre-med, I researched SDN for ideas, and basically compiled them all and executed them. I approached about 12 writers, and was told by at least 4 or 5 of them that I had presented the most professional request for an LOR they had ever received, and what's more, made it much much easier for them to write me a great letter. My letters were highly praised in my med school interviews.

Just my 2 cents. YMMV.

 

[Crayola227]

"LOR writer asked me "what do med schools want to hear?""

I'm partial to my recs, obvs. You could read the whole thread, and there's threads within it. @LizzyM has great advice, we differ on the opinion about CVs, but it seems like enough LOR writers want/expect it that I would send it.

I agree with LizzyM that you don't want the LOR writers to just regurg all the stuff that is going to be in your AMCAS app or your CV.

BUUUUT

I realize a couple of things:
-I'm memorable. No, I'm not being conceited. I'm obnoxious, so it happens. 😛
-I provided some graded work in their class, and as you might gather my obnoxious text matches my obnoxious personality.
-My CV was also pretty heavy on a lot of things they might not have otherwise known about me that possibly helped them make more sense of me as a human being, things that probably related to my behavior, beliefs, etc that would have come through in my work or time in class.
- I gave an LOR guide that may have helped them to synthesize the information I gave them.

I think this allowed me to provide a CV that strengthened my letters and didn't weaken them.

 

[mvenus929]

For all my applications, I've provided my personal statement and my CV. Yes, they can talk about how well they know you and how well they've worked with you, but the good ones also want to help with your overall application. Two of my letter writers for fellowship asked me what I wanted them to focus on for their letter, because they knew me in multiple roles. The CV just provides additional information that they can pull from to support their experiences with you. (i.e. "mvenus929 showed a great passion when working with the kids in clinic, which carried over to her work in the community..." or "I noticed that *applicant* seemed particularly drawn to this type of patient, which makes sense given this thing in her past). The personal statement also provides them a reference for how you are framing your application, and the qualities that you want adcoms/PDs to be aware of in considering you for a position. Your letter writers can provide more examples to support these aspects of you.

 

[Redpancreas]

Even in cases of them knowing you quite well?

It’s not required and people writing you strong letters shouldn’t really need one. I suppose if I wanted to write the strongest one possible I’d use a resume to like find some activities and link those the personality traits the person exhibits “Anjali had great rapport with underserved patients that many struggle with. It is clear she is passionate about patient education and safety and has had time to hone her skills given her leadership position in XYZ student run free clinic”.