what makes an LOR from prof / MD strong? Also what makes an EC strong?

[supernareg]

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as opposed to "weak"??

 

[PeripateticMD]

as opposed to "weak"??

Listing any item in and of itself doesn't mean much. An LOR should come from someone who knows your trajectory into medicine, who knows your skills, shortcomings, research, and would really represent you well to admssions committees.

A strong EC is one that is continuous, ie: if you do something a few times, drop it and never go into what it taught you, what it led you to, etc, it makes it obvious that you did it to be an EC, but not because it added to your skills/capacity/interest in medicine.

That said, YOU are responsible for making the link between your ECs, LORs, Personal Statement, and history. You need to make it obvious how everything you did 1) added to your knowledge/capacity/skills 2) led you to medicine and 3) how it will feed into your practice of medicine.

 

[PeripateticMD]

as opposed to "weak"??

Sorry, adding to above.

For examples (they tend to help sometimes...):

1. Chief of orthopaedic surgery who I 1. babysat for as a teenager, 2. volunteered with/shadowed for a summer, 3. who I was hired to do research with for 2 years and who I published with.

2. My thesis advisor from my masters program who I created a course with, did my masters thesis under, and who I TAed for for 2 courses.

3. One of the most famous international MDs who I worked with (him and his team) in my research work in Haiti.

4. My undergrad advisor who I kept in touch with and became friends with over the years.

I think CONSISTENT and diversity of contacts is important. I think you need to make a list of all the possible LOR writers you have in mind, then list how they know you, what they know about you and the strengths they each could say about you. Then pick the most diverse group that shows all sides of you, and invite them. I sent to every LOR writer a copy of my AMCAS (rough draft), an outline of our relationship and what I thought they could say about me (i actually drafted LORs for each of them as well), and it was very well accepted by all 6 people I ended up asking.

 

[Law2Doc]

as opposed to "weak"??

A strong LOR will be one from someone who knows you personally and can comment on your abilities and character, with respect to whether you would be an asset to the profession as well as handle the rigors and challenges of medical school. Thus a physician or professor who knows you in a working capacity or both inside and outside of the classroom is frequently a good one, whereas a prof who barely knows your name or a doctor who barely recalls meeting you (but perhaps is a friend of a parent) won't be. Big name MD people will often be worse LORs than that of a PhD who knows you really well from the lab.

As for ECs, I don't think the issue is strong or weak -- you want to distinguish yourself from other applicants, show an interest in medicine/patients, perhaps show leadership skills. So something you are passionate about is great. On the flip side, if your EC helps you see more medicine, perhaps gives you some insight into the positives and negatives of the profession that would be useful (both for the adcoms and for yourself). For clinical experience you want up close and personal exposure to doctors, patients, and the interaction between them. An interviewer once told me that the true measure of how good a clinical experience is, is whether there is a substantial chance you will be thrown up on.