What do you think about this LOR?

[TheRighteous]

So I asked the graduate student I worked with a year ago to write me a LOR and this is what he replied with:

"I'll be happy to write you a letter of rec although it may take a couple of weeks before I can work on it - I can certainly evaluate your good work in the lab during fall semester 2007. Usually, recommenders are asked to rank the candidate relative to his peers; to give you an idea how strong the letter could be, from the total of 6 students that I had at xxx you are #3 in the list. I think this will correspond to a very good to outstanding category. Please let me know if this works for you."

Here's the deal, on paper, I was in the lab for fall 2007 and spring 2008. However, due to my own poor time management skills and other commitments, I was not able to work in the lab a lot in spring 2008. Yes, I should have managed my time better, but alas, it's no use crying over spilled milk now.

Anyway, it seems like the writer will talk about my good work in fall 2007, but will he mention my frequent absence in spring 2008? What do you think? I may just be another neurotic premed but being #3 on a list of 6 sounds like a hint that it may just be mediocre. Furthermore, should this be one of those letters to send to med schools or one of the back-up ones just in case a school asks for a LOR from every lab you worked in.

Thanks for your input.

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[PanicAttack]

I think you're being a little neurotic. The letter writer thinks that being 3rd out of 6 means "good to outstanding," indicating that the people you're being compared to are a pretty solid group of students. About 50% of people get into med school, and this person thinks you're in the top 50%. What's the problem?

 

[TheRighteous]

Well, my understanding is that one should only send out glowing LOR's to med schools. This writer seems to be hinting that it might be mediocre by saying that I'm ranked 3/6. That is hardly glowing or impressive and I'm sure med schools know this as well.

 

[witness23]

who is he ranking you against? post docs?

 

[BlueElmo]

Sounds okay... but I'm not entirely sure.

 

[TheRighteous]

He is ranking me against other undergrad students that he has had in the past.

 

[Jolt21]

the fact that he ranks like that is soooo crazy. i cant imagine if my boss wrote down a ranking system. i mean, they may, but i dont wanna think about it...and if they ever told me my rank, i'd go crazy.

 

[GellaBella]

I know you're stressing out about the fact that you're being ranked as #3 out of 6 but the student says that that puts you in the very good/outstanding range.

I think that is great, it just means that there were other students who happened to be outstanding. That's ok.

The grad student also specifically said they would comment on your Fall 2007 time in the lab. So I would not worry too much about them commenting on Spring 2008.

Thus far, if this was a LOR from a professor I would think it could be a really nice recommendation.

However its from a grad student. I'm a PhD student myself and I have been asked to write LOR before, and if I think I can write a positive rec then of course I will do it, BUT I think it is always better to get a rec from someone who already has a doctorate degree (MD, PhD, whatever).

I just feel like a rec from another student - even an advanced grad student - does not hold as much weight as a rec from someone who already has a degree.

I'm not sure if others would agree with me or not. If I were you, I'd try to have at least 3 solid recs from other profs/MDs and use this rec as an additional, follow up recommendation if possible.

 

[littlealex]

Don't ask for that rec.
You want letters from professors who had been teaching for 20 years, and you want the letter to say "Of my past 20 years in academia, TheRighteous is amongst the brightest, most motivate students I had the pleasure of teaching."

1) Find a professor with experience
2) Find a professor who is enamored with you

Try to have both 1 and 2. When that's not possible, 2 is more important.

 

[TheRighteous]

GellaBella,

The LOR will be signed by a MD/PhD and cosgined by the grad student (already received his PhD) even though the grad student is writing it. From what I understand, the letter will just read as if it were composed by either the PI, the grad student, or both of them together. A lot of my LOR's will be written by graduate student instructors and signed by professors, would that be okay?

littlealex,

I'll be sure to do that for future LOR's.

 

[witness23]

GellaBella,

The LOR will be signed by a MD/PhD and cosgined by the grad student (already received his PhD) even though the grad student is writing it. From what I understand, the letter will just read as if it were composed by either the PI, the grad student, or both of them together. A lot of my LOR's will be written by graduate student instructors and signed by professors, would that be okay?

littlealex,

I'll be sure to do that for future LOR's.

its okay for it to be co-signed by the postdoc and the PI.

 

[shemarty]

When you apply to residency programs, your school will submit a deans letter that has a sentence with a code word in it, ranking you compared to your peers. (There are some schools that don't rank.)

Usually this is split into quartiles or quintiles. The words that different schools choose to use can vary.

Some examples:
Outstanding, superior, excellent, good
Outstanding, very good, good, satisfactory

If your letter will rank you in the "very good to outstanding" category, that's pretty much saying that you're in the top third of undergraduate students he has worked with. Thats nothing to be worried about!

Of course, you hope that the letter is fairly personalized and doesn't sound super generic. You want more than "John worked in my lab from X-Y, for Z hrs/week. He is in the top third of all undergraduate students I have mentored."

Don't ask for that rec.
1) Find a professor with experience
2) Find a professor who is enamored with you

Try to have both 1 and 2. When that's not possible, 2 is more important.

I agree with this. Try to ask people who know you well, are enamored with you, and are invested in your success.

 

[thoffen]

Your response should be something along the lines of:

Thank you for the kind words. I do not need the letter right away, so this works well. I have some materials prepared (transcripts, CV) if you would like them to assist you in writing the letter. Additionally, I will be available to meet with you if you would like to ask some questions. I am very grateful for the opportunity you have given me, and it was a pleasure to be an assistant in your lab. I appreciate any advice you have for me in my future endeavors.

Sincerely,
TheRighteous