Warning, rambling ahead from someone who has written letters almost every year since I graduated:
Since there are only two employees at the practice (not including me), In my opinion, we have gotten to know eachother well enough that LOR quality isn't a problem.
You may think that, but I'm just telling you the reality of how schools might interpret your application. Not trying to make you worry about being rejected, far from it, just give you some perspective on why I bring it up as a red flag for your app. Like I said, you may very well have no issues if your GPAs can carry you through.
There's more to LORs than 'This applicant was great.' There's an actual questionnaire we fill out in addition to uploading our written letter. It asks things like how well we know the applicant and how long have we known the applicant, because that really matters
. Then it lists various qualities/skills/personality traits/etc for which we mark ratings (or mark if we have not observed you in that context to be able to rate). Things get a little misleading when I can say I met you a year ago, but in reality have only spent, say, 80 hours working with you since meeting you (clear as mud?). So sure, I've known you for a year, but I still don't know you
well.
Length of time the vet has known you/depth of their experience with you is a big factor in how well the letter is received and how much weight is put on it. A vet you've worked with for a few weeks cannot possibly, or honestly, mark all of those categories. It takes months, if not a year or two, of FT hours to get a good idea of how someone works/who they are as an employee and see how they respond in a variety of situations. There's going to be a lot of 'not observed' in that section if they are answering honestly. While that doesn't mean you wouldn't be rated highly had the vet observed you in that situation, having a lot of unknowns in the LOR is a red flag. And the fact that your only vet reference is someone they can see has barely worked with you (again, a few weeks is really nothing)...that vet also cannot honestly say they know you 'very well.' And saying otherwise could cast doubt on the entirety of the letter imo.
Another bit of perspective: The only time I've actually marked 'very well' for how well I've known an applicant is for someone I had worked FT with for several years, and I had could confidently rate each personality trait/other accordingly. I can't even do that for most interns/externs that stay for several weeks/maybe a couple months with full time hours, unless they are
really outgoing and upfront with their participation. I've turned down writing letters for pre-vets that have popped in for a few weeks because it's just not enough time to be able to write them an honest, but good one.
should you end up needing to apply again next year, this vet can probably write you a significantly more accurate letter. But with just a few weeks together, it's really not 'knowing each other well' like you think it is.
I'm definitely not planning to use low pay as an excuse LOL, that's just the reality of why I got my hours from shadowing in my free time instead of working at a practice. Thanks again for your input!!
But you did use that specific reason as to why you didn't get more vet hours. I'm just saying that if you said that in an interview, you might not get a good response.
