Trouble with LORs as low stat applicant?

[DoctorLacrosse]

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So I'm going to be applying this upcoming cycle, and am trying to be as early as possible to maximize my chances. I'm taking the MCAT in May, and hopefully can do really well to somewhat makeup for my lackluster GPA.

My question is, have any of you with GPAs on the low side (like <3.35 lets say) had any trouble obtaining letters of rec from your professors? I have a few people lined up who I know will write me strong letters regardless, but as I need other science letters, I've grown closer to my biochem professor this semester, but as he requires a copy of your transcripts to write a letter, I'm worried about what he may think about my early performance. my first two years were terrible (~2.7) with my only two REALLY poor grades being one F and one C-. Will professors understand if I explain I started off really poorly, but have turned it around the last three years? I have a very high upward trend. Thanks you for opinions!

 

[SN12357]

So I'm going to be applying this upcoming cycle, and am trying to be as early as possible to maximize my chances. I'm taking the MCAT in May, and hopefully can do really well to somewhat makeup for my lackluster GPA.

My question is, have any of you with GPAs on the low side (like <3.35 lets say) had any trouble obtaining letters of rec from your professors? I have a few people lined up who I know will write me strong letters regardless, but as I need other science letters, I've grown closer to my biochem professor this semester, but as he requires a copy of your transcripts to write a letter, I'm worried about what he may think about my early performance. my first two years were terrible (~2.7) with my only two REALLY poor grades being one F and one C-. Will professors understand if I explain I started off really poorly, but have turned it around the last three years? I have a very high upward trend. Thanks you for opinions!

Everyone understands an upward trend. If you really did improve overall and did well in his class, I wouldn't worry about it.

The best thing to do is to ask him outright if he feels he can write you a strong letter, and discussing your academic turnaround with him.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

Everyone understands an upward trend. If you really did improve overall and did well in his class, I wouldn't worry about it.

The best thing to do is to ask him outright if he feels he can write you a strong letter, and discussing your academic turnaround with him.

That's a great idea, thank you. so far I'm ranked #1 in his class with a cumulative grade of 100%, so I'm just hoping he's understanding and realizes I've made mistakes, but I now work very hard to turn it around. to be honest I don't know many professors all that well as I go to a state school with hundreds of people per class, so if he says he can't write me a strong letter, I'm unsure what i'll do for letters.

 

[DokterMom]

That's a great idea, thank you. so far I'm ranked #1 in his class with a cumulative grade of 100%, so I'm just hoping he's understanding and realizes I've made mistakes, but I now work very hard to turn it around. to be honest I don't know many professors all that well as I go to a state school with hundreds of people per class, so if he says he can't write me a strong letter, I'm unsure what i'll do for letters.

At a big state school, you're going to have to work harder for top LORs --

If you're the top student in his class, you've already got his attention by name at least. If you've been hiding in the back of the room, move forward a bit and don't bury yourself in the lecture hall. Give him a chance to get to know you, the person. Talk to him after class sometime by following up on something he mentioned tangentially in one of his lectures, from the assigned reading or something you dug up on REDDIT. If you get the chance, maybe mention some of the research or volunteering you're doing on the side and let him know that you're hoping to become a doctor. He'll figure out that a LOR-request is likely down the road, but don't ask quite yet.

Maybe also talk to some senior pre-meds or your school's pre-health committee and ask who writes substantive LORS and/or if there's anyone who does not have a good track record turning them in on time.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

At a big state school, you're going to have to work harder for top LORs --

If you're the top student in his class, you've already got his attention by name at least. If you've been hiding in the back of the room, move forward a bit and don't bury yourself in the lecture hall. Give him a chance to get to know you, the person. Talk to him after class sometime by following up on something he mentioned tangentially in one of his lectures, from the assigned reading or something you dug up on REDDIT. If you get the chance, maybe mention some of the research or volunteering you're doing on the side and let him know that you're hoping to become a doctor. He'll figure out that a LOR-request is likely down the road, but don't ask quite yet.

Maybe also talk to some senior pre-meds or your school's pre-health committee and ask who writes substantive LORS and/or if there's anyone who does not have a good track record turning them in on time.

fantastic advice, thank you! I've been sitting in the front, always spark up convos with him during our lab session, been to his office hours a couple times (though should try more), and will continue making the effort. I'm just worried he'd be a good letter writer candidate but will be "turned off", so to speak, by my poor start to college grades-wise. hopefully I'm looking too far into it, but I figure it's certainly possible many profs may end up feeling this way, which sucks for me.

 

[DokterMom]

fantastic advice, thank you! I've been sitting in the front, always spark up convos with him during our lab session, been to his office hours a couple times (though should try more), and will continue making the effort. I'm just worried he'd be a good letter writer candidate but will be "turned off", so to speak, by my poor start to college grades-wise. hopefully I'm looking too far into it, but I figure it's certainly possible many profs may end up feeling this way, which sucks for me.

So if you can work it into a conversation naturally, bring up your poor start. Own it. Admit it. Make no excuses, but show you've learned, grown and matured. You think college professors don't see a lot of 'stupid freshman' stuff? Figure out what the problem was early on, how you solved it, and be prepared to talk about it if/when the time is right. Odds are very high he truly wants you to succeed.

 

[zacharyw]

Instead of sending your transcript and other stuff in and hope for the best, sit down with him first. Send an email saying if you can chat with him about the possibility of writing a LOR (maybe even with a copy of transcript in hand). Give him plenty of opportunities where he can say "sorry, I don't think I can write the strongest letter" so that there is no surprise. I've gotten close to my LOR writers and one of them was a professor where I got a C+, my worst grade in college. I sat down with him beforehand and I knew it was going to be one of the stronger letters because of the conversation we had. It even came up during a couple of my interviews where they mentioned how he made many 'thoughtful/great comments' in the LOR.

So poor grades doesn't necessarily mean poor letters.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

thanks for the advice to all of you. I plan to be completely honest and open and own up to my mistakes, I just hope it doesn't prevent him from writing me a strong LOR. he does kind of seem like the type to be hindered by that kind of thing, but lets home I'm wrong! I'm let you all know how it goes when that time comes!

 

[Goro]

For MD schools, a high MCAT isn't going to make up for a well-below avg GPA. DO programs? Yes.

In my experience, individual LOR writers never comment on academics outside their own course (the typical thing they write is Joe/Jill Smith took my very hard course and finished 5th out of 130 students). Mostly they write if you're a nice person and think you'll make a good doctor. So don't sweat the LOR. Simply explain what happened in your first years without excuses, and you'll be fine.

So I'm going to be applying this upcoming cycle, and am trying to be as early as possible to maximize my chances. I'm taking the MCAT in May, and hopefully can do really well to somewhat makeup for my lackluster GPA.

My question is, have any of you with GPAs on the low side (like <3.35 lets say) had any trouble obtaining letters of rec from your professors? I have a few people lined up who I know will write me strong letters regardless, but as I need other science letters, I've grown closer to my biochem professor this semester, but as he requires a copy of your transcripts to write a letter, I'm worried about what he may think about my early performance. my first two years were terrible (~2.7) with my only two REALLY poor grades being one F and one C-. Will professors understand if I explain I started off really poorly, but have turned it around the last three years? I have a very high upward trend. Thanks you for opinions!

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

For MD schools, a high MCAT isn't going to make up for a well-below avg GPA. DO programs? Yes.

In my experience, individual LOR writers never comment on academics outside their own course (the typical thing they write is Joe/Jill Smith took my very hard course and finished 5th out of 130 students). Mostly they write if you're a nice person and think you'll make a good doctor. So don't sweat the LOR. Simply explain what happened in your first years without excuses, and you'll be fine.

Well I've seen a lot of applicants of a similar ethnic background to myself with my GPA and a high mcat get accepted to some decent MD programs, so I guess I'm just going to do my best and apply to both MD and DO. would HAPPILY go DO, as being a physician is my goal, period.

But that's great news! I believe if he writes it the letter will be strong, I just don't want him to deny writing one for me because of my early grades. I guess in the end it'll be up to him and just him, hoping for the best!