What makes a "strong" LOR?

[aayz345]

Is it the length? The amount of praise? Specific examples? I have no idea what a strong letter looks like. One of the physicians I shadowed let me see the letter he submitted for me. It was 1 page long, contained lots of praise, and a few examples.

My former PI and current employer are both letting my write my own LOR. So I'm trying to make these as strong as possible, but don't really have a baseline

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[SDunkey]

Praise with specific examples. Your physician one sounds solid.
Don't fret too much over it though. For med admissions, LORs don't really mean much. They are really just used to make sure you don't have any hidden red flags, so the fact that you can write your own is good. A great LOR won't mean much, but a bad LOR can break you.

 

[DameJulie]

Personable, enthusiastic, accurate. The reader should feel like the professor really knows you and is genuinely evaluating you

 

[Med Ed]

People often mistake praise for strength. Slapping on adjectives is not compelling.

A truly strong letter is one where the writer has a genuine relationship with the applicant, and can therefore use well-crafted anecdotes to convincingly establish the applicant's attributes.

Contrary to what was stated in an earlier post, LORs are important in this process, and good ones can be helpful to your candidacy. We simply receive a lot of mediocre ones. By that I mean the letters aren't negative, but they are mostly written by professors who have had limited personal interactions with the applicant, and therefore revert to "_ got a _ in my class, and was _ out of _ students overall." But that's what happens when you're a college student, particularly at a large, impersonal university.

Shadowing letters are famous for being pleasant but vacuous, so I wouldn't use that one as a model.

 

[LizzyM]

One of the letters I found most memorable in my 20 years of reading these things was from a varsity coach who had been "on the road" with the candidate for athletic competition and wrote of his work ethic in practices , his support of his team members and -- here's what really struck me -- how he behaved on road trips and when interacting with fans, kids, and low level hotel workers. The coach, whom I've admired as a gentleman, identified this candidate as a gentleman in the way he behaved in these situations and that has stuck with me. That kind of letter is pure gold. Most of the rest are neither good nor bad... some will kill you with faint praise (He mastered basic tasks and did not become discouraged by set-backs which were frequent. He has discovered that he is better suited to medicine than the laboratory and I think that medical school is a better situation for him that graduate studies in chemistry which is the goal of most of the ten undergraduates in my lab.)

 

[chemdoctor]

Yes and Yes, in my opinion

What if you volunteer as a “medical assistant”, and did clinical research + shadowing with the physician? I know it’s not a “science letter” but would it still be a good letter to obtain?

 

[chemdoctor]

No,

Really? Why?

 

[chemdoctor]

An academic non-science letter is needed for those schools that asked for it. The letter you describe does not fit this

I don’t want to use it as one of my nonscience letters though. Some schools need a letter from someone that’s seen applicants volunteer. My nonscience will be from my sociology professor and a literature professor

 

[chemdoctor]

Very few schools ask for that but sure, if they do this will fit

Nice. A lot of my clinical volunteering was as a medical assisntat with this physician. I don’t want a “shadowing” letter from him. But I feel like he can speak on my medical assistant stuff

 

[LizzyM]

Most letters from doctors will say that you dressed appropriately, showed up on time and were polite in your interactions with patients. It is what I call "brave, clean and reverent" (part of the Boy Scout Law). These letters are seldom helpful.

 

[907914]

Very few schools ask for that but sure, if they do this will fit

I know many (most) schools do not ask directly for a volunteering letter. However, I have also found that the majority of schools (at least only 28 out of my list of 30 schools) do not specifically ask for a non-science faculty letter. Most of them will be something like "Three letters that can attest to the qualities we look for." or "two science faculty letters and one letter that can attest to the qualities we look for" and so on.

That has actually helped me cut down my school list because I do not and will not have a non-science faculty letter.

 

[chemdoctor]

Most letters from doctors will say that you dressed appropriately, showed up on time and were polite in your interactions with patients. It is what I call "brave, clean and reverent" (part of the Boy Scout Law). These letters are seldom helpful.

Oh dang. 🙁 what if the doctor talks about my interaction with patients, how he observed me supporting them and helping them etc.?

 

[chemdoctor]

I know many (most) schools do not ask directly for a volunteering letter. However, I have also found that the majority of schools (at least only 28 out of my list of 30 schools) do not specifically ask for a non-science faculty letter. Most of them will be something like "Three letters that can attest to the qualities we look for." or "two science faculty letters and one letter that can attest to the qualities we look for" and so on.

That has actually helped me cut down my school list because I do not and will not have a non-science faculty letter.

I have a very VERY strong nonscience letter. Still good right?

 

[907914]

I have a very VERY strong nonscience letter. Still good right?

I am in the same boat. I have two really great non-science letters. However, if a school directly states they want a letter from a non-science faculty such as Trayton is one example then a very strong nine science letter will not work for a non-science faculty letter. Most schools it appears seem to not specifically ask for a non-science faculty letter. However, they may prefer a non-science faculty letter.

 

[907914]

One example is Harvard. They say to science faculty and one non-science faculty. But then they go on to say these are not set in stone in our merely strong recommendations, however letters may vary if they are sufficient.

 

[chemdoctor]

I am in the same boat. I have two really great non-science letters. However, if a school directly states they want a letter from a non-science faculty such as Trayton is one example then a very strong nine science letter will not work for a non-science faculty letter. Most schools it appears seem to not specifically ask for a non-science faculty letter. However, they may prefer a non-science faculty letter.

I wouldn’t use my doctor letter as a non-science... my nonscience is from a literature professor. I expect it to be extremely strong

 

[ndafife]

1. Strong credentials - nationally known department chair vs grad student (These are extremes here and I wouldn't sacrifice #3 for for a minor bump here)
2. Strong writing - no typos, person as a writer can adequately convey how they feel about you (more than just a collection of adjectives)
3. Strong subject - What have YOU done to deserve a recommendation from this person

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Is it the length? The amount of praise? Specific examples? I have no idea what a strong letter looks like. One of the physicians I shadowed let me see the letter he submitted for me. It was 1 page long, contained lots of praise, and a few examples.

My former PI and current employer are both letting my write my own LOR. So I'm trying to make these as strong as possible, but don't really have a baseline

I take issue with your sentence that your former PI and current employer are both "LETTING" you write your own LOR. I think this is a terrible position in which they have put you. I can often tell when students have written their own LOR's and it is bad mojo. I know more and more people are doing this, and it is accepted practice in academia in pro forma promotion letters, but this smacks of dishonesty to me. Moreover, most undergrads do not have the necessary insight and experience to know what makes a great letter, and the insights that others have about an applicant can occasionally be enough to pique my interest when they say something unique and different about he way a person carries themselves or deals with adversity.

If I knew for sure that an applicant wrote their own letter (even if edited by the PI later) I would 100% discount the letter. But knowing that more and more of them are being done this way makes me want to discount a lot of these letters.

I know that the applicants are low in the power dynamic here and if asked to write their own letter, most will have no choice but to do so.