What letters of rec to use?

[TriagePreMed]

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[DocMan22]

Before I say anything else, the best LORs are from people who know you well and have seen you perform, write well and have experience writing LORs, have advanced degrees, and most importantly really like you. That being said, you don't really know how good a letter is without seeing it.

The quality of letters is much more important than the quantity. If you have 3-4 letters that probably give a fantastic recommendation of you as a student and future physician, stick with those. No reason to tarnish that by adding lesser letters. Also there is no great answer as to how much degree of professor matters, everyone has a different opinion but the correct answer is it probably depends on the person at the med school who's looking at it. You have to take into account title too (professor or assistant/associate professor).

Letters 1-3: I would choose just one of these, the one that knows you the best or seemed especially eager to write you a letter. Grades don't matter as much as what else they can say about you. If they didn't really know you on a personal level the LOR may be fairly generic sounding.

4. Known you 6 years a big plus, assuming they like you 😉 I would include.

5. Obviously include for DO, prob not for MD.

6. If they knew you well and probably said something about your enthusiasm for DO include. If not maybe not. If you dont have your affiliation with preSOMA (a huge plus for DO!!) anywhere else on your app (part of your EC) defiantly include.

7 Nope. Volunteering in EC is good enough, no reason to include a mediocre letter.

8 Same as 7 unless they knew you really well.

9. Would absolutely include!

*(10) you probably need a letter from your pre-med advisor / committee. If you don't have one head/chair of natural science department. Look at LOR requirements for every school you plan on applying too. Some accept a letter from basic science professor in place of this but it's better to have this.

Good luck!

 

[bsa]

In order: 2, 3, 4, 5, and then 9.

Without a committee letter, I believe most schools want 2(?) science letters and 1 non-science letter so I guess 2-4 are required. 5 and 9 would be great to include if you are able to.

 

[musclemilk619]

3, 5 and 9 if I had to pick three

 

[dntke1518]

3, 5 and 9 if i had to pick three

Same here.

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

Don't use a letter from a class you got a B in.

 

[AnthroDocFL]

3, 5 and 9 if I had to pick three

Same here.

I would also pick 3, 5 and 9. Some schools require a non-science letter, so number 4 would also be great for those.

 

[GimpGenius]

Don't use a letter from a class you got a B in.

I call BS. If you have a professor you got along well with and is willing to go to bat for you, something as marginal as getting a B in their class is a foolish reason not to ask them.

Case in point: my best recommendation came from a professor I researched with and took three courses with. My best grade in any of the courses was a B+. A DO Adcom is more likely to look at the context of the recommendation, and, if they right you a strong one, their opinion of you is going to matter more than the grade.

If it's an MD school, on the other hand? Yeah, you should probably play the numbers game (which is unfortunate). 🙄

 

[DocMan22]

I call BS. If you have a professor you got along well with and is willing to go to bat for you, something as marginal as getting a B in their class is a foolish reason not to ask them.


If it's an MD school, on the other hand? Yeah, you should probably play the numbers game (which is unfortunate). 🙄

+1 but i think you could still send it to MD too.

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

I call BS. If you have a professor you got along well with and is willing to go to bat for you, something as marginal as getting a B in their class is a foolish reason not to ask them.

Case in point: my best recommendation came from a professor I researched with and took three courses with. My best grade in any of the courses was a B+. A DO Adcom is more likely to look at the context of the recommendation, and, if they right you a strong one, their opinion of you is going to matter more than the grade.

If it's an MD school, on the other hand? Yeah, you should probably play the numbers game (which is unfortunate). 🙄

A fair point for DO admissions. You read your LORs?

 

[GimpGenius]

A fair point for DO admissions. You read your LORs?

Not outright, no. One of my interview sessions was focued mainly on what that professor wrote about me, though. If it was impressive enough to take 30 minutes of interview time... let's just say she's getting a very nice thank-you gift. 🙂

 

[ManBroDude]

You can cherry pick a little bit: have them all send one in. Then send a copy of each one to your advisor who can pick the strongest ones out for you, keeping your waived status intact.

 

[COMedic2Doc]

You can cherry pick a little bit: have them all send one in. Then send a copy of each one to your advisor who can pick the strongest ones out for you, keeping your waived status intact.

+1 and if possible get a committee letter before sending any of these letters in, it will help a lot in the long run. However, if this isn't an option then do as much as possible to keep these letters confidential from you. I know it's a crazy game we play, but confidential letters aka ones you haven't read (as far as ADCOMs can tell) carry more weight than those that you submit yourself. This might require giving them stamped letters for all of the programs you're looking at secondaries from if you don't have a committee or advisor to compile these for you.

 

[GimpGenius]

+1 and if possible get a committee letter before sending any of these letters in, it will help a lot in the long run. However, if this isn't an option then do as much as possible to keep these letters confidential from you. I know it's a crazy game we play, but confidential letters aka ones you haven't read (as far as ADCOMs can tell) carry more weight than those that you submit yourself. This might require giving them stamped letters for all of the programs you're looking at secondaries from if you don't have a committee or advisor to compile these for you.

A reference packet from your pre-med committee is ideal. If you don't have a committee, you're a non-trad/postbacc, etc. I'd suggest getting an Interfolio account (or a similar service). Basically you send instructions to your evaluator, and they complete the reference and send it to your "virtual portfolio." You can then cherry-pick whose letter to send where, without any breach of the waiver.

 

[octupus]

All I can say is the grade you received in class will not always be reflective of the quality of letter your professor will write on your behalf. Choose the letter from the professor that you interacted most with, be it office hour visits, interactions in lab, discussions in class etc.

 

[octupus]

+1 and if possible get a committee letter before sending any of these letters in, it will help a lot in the long run. However, if this isn't an option then do as much as possible to keep these letters confidential from you. I know it's a crazy game we play, but confidential letters aka ones you haven't read (as far as ADCOMs can tell) carry more weight than those that you submit yourself. This might require giving them stamped letters for all of the programs you're looking at secondaries from if you don't have a committee or advisor to compile these for you.

+1. Along with my committee letter, the committee also uploaded my other letters and the schools had access to all of them. If your school has a pre-health committee, check with them.