Why some school don't accept LOR

[ForumHangout]

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What's the deal? some school say they don't accept letter of recommendation.

What's the thinking behind this?

I understand some school don't require PCAT because they feel the PCAT is not a good assessment on how well a candidate will actually peform in Pharmacy school... but ELORS? I just dont get it.

Can someone explain why some Pharmacy school dont require it? thx.

 

[Starshipp]

really? which schools are these?

 

[GrimeWizard]

What's the deal? some school say they don't accept letter of recommendation.

What's the thinking behind this?

I understand some school don't require PCAT because they feel the PCAT is not a good assessment on how well a candidate will actually peform in Pharmacy school... but ELORS? I just dont get it.

Can someone explain why some Pharmacy school dont require it? thx.

Call and a school and find out. Anything on this site would just be speculation.

 

[riggylou]

Rutgers doesn't require them..they are optional, giving the rationale that 'everyone can get someone to write a nice letter for them'. I've heard from other schools saying 'be careful who writes your LORs because we do get some lousy ones'.

Rutgers also doesn't use PharmCAS, so I submitted an app for the hell of it without LORs because it was hard enough to get everyone to upload theirs to PharmCAS...needless to say this is not one of my top choices or else I would have put in more effort. This is the only school of the 8 that I applied to that I saw didn't require LORs though.

 

[confettiflyer]

Anyone can get good LOR's. For residency, I had a candidate with 3 great LOR's but I called my friend/colleague and told me they were a lousy candidate.

3 letters x # of applicants = hours and hours of paying staff to read and score them when really they're looking for the 3-4 candid letters not recommending someone. I can see how it's a waste of time.

And if your internal metrics point to something else as being a better predictor of success, all the more reason to drop it.

 

[owlegrad]

Anyone can get good LOR's. For residency, I had a candidate with 3 great LOR's but I called my friend/colleague and told me they were a lousy candidate.

3 letters x # of applicants = hours and hours of paying staff to read and score them when really they're looking for the 3-4 candid letters not recommending someone. I can see how it's a waste of time.

And if your internal metrics point to something else as being a better predictor of success, all the more reason to drop it.

Yeah I always wondered about that. It seems to me that LORs would just be a huge time sink for like >90% of candidates where not mych information is really gained from them. Not exactly the most time efficient activity I can think of. Then again I guess they most be worth something given how common they are in academia.

 

[DrDrugs2012]

Most letters of recommendation are the same canned statements professors send for every student. Very little changes from letter to letter.

You are only losing out if you were a truly spectacular student - the kind that solves equations to make cold fusion marketable. (exaggeration for emphasis).

So given that, most LORs are pretty pointless. But we do see comical LORs. We even see LORs where the person writes "do not admit this student to your pharmacy school".

 

[ForumHangout]

Most letters of recommendation are the same canned statements professors send for every student. Very little changes from letter to letter.

You are only losing out if you were a truly spectacular student - the kind that solves equations to make cold fusion marketable. (exaggeration for emphasis).

So given that, most LORs are pretty pointless. But we do see comical LORs. We even see LORs where the person writes "do not admit this student to your pharmacy school".

What do you mean by "we"? sorry do you mind clarify lol? are you part of the board of a pharmacy school that decides on the admission of student?

 

[The Recoverer]

really? which schools are these?

Roseman

 

[kcha90]

I think that although a cynical view of LORs is appropriate given how unexceptional the majority of them are, it's worthwhile to sift through them just to find the fraction of LORs which actually pique your interest, or tell you that this applicant is indeed different from the rest.

 

[DrDrugs2012]

For professional reasons, I cannot divulge my affiliation.
I will only state that admissions committees have on occasion been highly amused by the letters of non-recommendation. I am privy to substantial (but not all) relevant admissions information. Revealing my identity would jeopardize my ability and desire to counsel students by indirectly revealing the nature of how I procure my information. It may or may not harm my career as well.

 

[ForumHangout]

For professional reasons, I cannot divulge my affiliation.
I will only state that admissions committees have on occasion been highly amused by the letters of non-recommendation. I am privy to substantial (but not all) relevant admissions information. Revealing my identity would jeopardize my ability and desire to counsel students by indirectly revealing the nature of how I procure my information. It may or may not harm my career as well.

What kind of a cruel person would give non-recommendation letter? naturally, you can atleast tell the person that you're not going to be able to give them a good recommendation letter. They put their hopes in you.

 

[kcha90]

What kind of a cruel person would give non-recommendation letter? naturally, you can atleast tell the person that you're not going to be able to give them a good recommendation letter. They put their hopes in you.

It's pretty hard to earn a non-recommendation, in my opinion. And you should be able to tell if you're recommender will write you something good or not. But I agree, it's mean to agree to write a LOR and then write a non-recommendation letter. Either write a LOR or don't, unless you think you're doing a service to pharmacy by precluding the applicant from a position.

 

[The Recoverer]

:troll:

What kind of a cruel person would give non-recommendation letter? naturally, you can atleast tell the person that you're not going to be able to give them a good recommendation letter. They put their hopes in you.

 

[ForumHangout]

:troll:

Okay, there was nothing trolling about that post.

I hope people around here recognize you for what you really are. A backstabber who will betray anyone for more attention and more friends. People can see through your psychopathic personality.

No one here thinks you're high and mighty. No one think you're respectable. They just see an *******. They just see you as someone they should avoid lest they want their back stabbed.

 

[The Recoverer]

Okay, there was nothing trolling about that post.

I hope people around here recognize you for what you really are. A backstabber who will betray anyone for more attention and more friends. People can see through your psychopathic personality.

No one here thinks you're high and mighty. No one think you're respectable. They just see an *******. They just see you as someone they should avoid lest they want their back stabbed.

yes

 

[confettiflyer]

What kind of a cruel person would give non-recommendation letter? naturally, you can atleast tell the person that you're not going to be able to give them a good recommendation letter. They put their hopes in you.

I've seen it...I called them on the phone for more details and turns out they even told the applicant they wouldn't be able to write a strong letter of rec. but the applicant still insisted.

AND the applicant almost failed that rotation.

So what kind of cruel person would write a non rec letter? The real question is...what kind of idiot asks and persists knowing it will be bad?

Hello trash can.

I'd say about 2-3% of our total applicant pool for PGY1 had negative letters.