Too many LORs? How to choose.

[IDK22]

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I was curious to know whether the number/quality of LORs I'm getting is ok or overkill for my application to D.O. schools:

1 science professor from undergrad
1 public health professor from undergrad
1 A&P professor from CC I'm taking the series as well as retakes
1 PI from the medical school I'm doing research at (in the specialty, EM, which I want to pursue)
1 MD who is also part of the research team (also in the specialty, EM, which I want to pursue)
1 Firefighter captain who was also my EMT-B instructor
1 from high school speech and debate coach who is my current employer
1 from D.O. that I shadowed for a week (40 hours)

Total: 8 letters. All from people that know me really well and who can vouch for my interest in medicine. I was wondering from those who have applied whether there is a hard maximum for most schools/whether it might be good to save a few which I could sent in in case I get wait listed anywhere. My thinking is I need all that I could get since I consider myself a pretty borderline candidate.

Stats (after retakes) will be about cGPA 3.45-3.5 sGPA 3.4 MCAT 2014: 26 (PS 10, VR 8, BS 8) MCAT 2013: 20 (PS 6 VR 7 BS 7). Pretty good ECs (1 year clinical research, 3 years volunteer EMT, high school coach for 2 years, lots of other jobs/volunteering). Will be applying to almost every D.O. program minus a few.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[IDK22]

If I were you, I would submit:

1 science professor from undergrad
1 public health professor from undergrad
1 A&P professor from CC I'm taking the series as well as retakes
1 from D.O. that I shadowed for a week (40 hour

Thanks for your response. I understand that sending those four would be meeting the minimum requirements. Would sending an additional four not be beneficial for me? Would schools not read them...?

 

[AlteredScale]

Thanks for your response. I understand that sending those four would be meeting the minimum requirements. Would sending an additional four not be beneficial for me? Would schools not read them...?

I sent out additional ones. Maybe one or two that fit the mission of that school. Just don't go overboard.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I had a similar amount of LORs to yourself.

1) Send the ones that are required for the school (ex. 2 science, 1 non-science, 1 physician)
2) Try to send the ones that you think are most meaningful and fit the mission of the school as well
3) Try to send a recent LOR (so they know how your work ethic is currently)

Max I suggest sending out is five. Don't send out anymore, otherwise schools will just read the required letters and randomly look at the others.

 

[MedNation907]

The maximum an applicant can enter into AMCAS is 10 letters, so based off of this I would say 8 is okay.

Faculty members are required and the DO letter is arbitrarily "required". The remaining 5 letters seem to come from people whom you spent a lot of time with. I would send all 8, ADCOMs don't have to read them all if they don't want to heh. Just my opinion.

So your UG institution doesn't have a pre-med/health committee right?

 

[IDK22]

The maximum an applicant can enter into AMCAS is 10 letters, so based off of this I would say 8 is okay.

Faculty members are required and the DO letter is arbitrarily "required". The remaining 5 letters seem to come from people whom you spent a lot of time with. I would send all 8, ADCOMs don't have to read them all if they don't want to heh. Just my opinion.

So your UG institution doesn't have a pre-med/health committee right?

Thanks for that info. Is that maximum of 10 the same for AACOMAS? That's my thinking as well- might as well send them all so that they have more about me to base a decision off of..

No, unfortunately there is no pre-med/health committee which to be honest I'm actually happy about given that I went to a smaller school and had professors who could write more about my personal qualities than just the grades I received in their classes. I'm hoping adding more LORs will highlight my personal attributes/experiences which I think would be beneficial since my stats aren't stellar.

Here's another question- are cosigned LORs acceptable for medical schools? The PI and MD are part of the same research team and somebody had mentioned maybe getting just one joint letter from them. Or would you think it would be more beneficial to have two separate ones? They are both well established faculty members in their fields.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

eeny meeny miny moe

But to be more serious: definetely include PI, science prof, public health prof, A&P prof, and DO physician

 

[MedNation907]

Is that maximum of 10 the same for AACOMAS?

AACOMAS doesn't work like AMCAS since Osteopathic schools have varying regulations on when they want LORs sent in. Some schools want them sent in after secondaries have been sent in and paid for, others don't require LORs until you're offered an interview invite. I was just using AMCAS to draw a rough conclusion.

No, unfortunately there is no pre-med/health committee

Just making sure, I would have suggested it if you had one. However, I would check out Interfolio for collection and delivery of your LORs since you will not be using a committee. https://www.interfolio.com/services/dossier/

Here's another question- are cosigned LORs acceptable for medical schools?

This is a good idea, and makes perfect sense since they would both be basing their writing off of the same qualities/work ethic. When TA's write LORs they should be co-signed by faculty members, so co-signing isn't something unheard of. In your case, it's just not necessarily needed.