What does a strong LOR usually say?

[sephora89]

Hello all,

I've recently started putting more thought into choosing my letter writers wisely as well preparing important materials that could possibly help them when it comes to writing the letter (like a resume, personal statement, class assignments, etc.).

On here I saw many people recommend that they made a list of things to give to the letter writer to possibly include in their letter.

And that got me thinking as to what a strong LOR usually includes? What are examples of qualities/examples that would be looked upon favorably?

Thank you all in advance!

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[Goro]

Glowing wonderful things. Top 5% of students, "I'd like this person to be my doctor", use of "exceptional" and other superlatives. They stand out from generic LORs in that they're evaluations, rather than merely saying "nice guy/gal", or copies of their CV.

Hello all,

I've recently started putting more thought into choosing my letter writers wisely as well preparing important materials that could possibly help them when it comes to writing the letter (like a resume, personal statement, class assignments, etc.).

On here I saw many people recommend that they made a list of things to give to the letter writer to possibly include in their letter.

And that got me thinking as to what a strong LOR usually includes? What are examples of qualities/examples that would be looked upon favorably?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[sephora89]

Glowing wonderful things. Top 5% of students, "I'd like this person to be my doctor", use of "exceptional" and other superlatives. They stand out from generic LORs in that they're evaluations, rather than merely saying "nice guy/gal", or copies of their CV.

Those must be exceptionally rare.

 

[Goro]

indeed!

Those must be exceptionally rare.

 

[deleted158872]

What does a strong LOR usually say?

"Medicine will suffer if this person doesn't become a doctor". lol

 

[justadream]

What do adcoms think if half your letters say you are absolutely exceptional and the other half are generically positive?

 

[mimelim]

Those must be exceptionally rare.

indeed!

What do adcoms think if half your letters say you are absolutely exceptional and the other half are generically positive?

I actually would disagree Goro, I don't think that it is terribly uncommon for someone to have a glowing recommendation that says things like, "exceptional", "one of the best students I can recall" etc. The last season I read medical school applications it felt like it was 1 in 3 that had a letter that was clearly written by someone who either 'knows the game', or was writing a lot more than "nice guy/gal" or CV regurgitation. Probably 1/8-10 went into good detail and talked about things in great detail (a truly strong letter). It was incredibly rare to have someone that had more than one and only two that I can recall where ALL the letters basically outlined how the applicant could walk on water. This is in contrast to residency where the LOR are to the point, direct, but hit like a hammer. "I can not recommend this person more" or "We hope that he will stay with us at our program, but he will be an asset wherever he goes" which of course leads to phone calls to sort out who you really want and then you get other program directors that say, "If you don't take this person, you are an idiot." In short @justadream it is completely normal to have that.

 

[Goro]

Let's get one thing clear. LORs are so uniformly positive one way or another (at least the ones I see), that they really add very little to the package. Occasionally I'll write down a note about how good one candidates LORs can be, and occasionally, in our Adcom meetings, someone will say "she had just glowing LORs".

So their uniformity is such that we really don't give them much thought. They're more useful in being a bar. As long as someone doesn't say anything bad about you, then they're fine.

What do adcoms think if half your letters say you are absolutely exceptional and the other half are generically positive?

 

[theriomorphos]

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