Medical Will it be okay if scribe letter of recommendation is late because of COVID?

[MusicDOc124]

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I need 1 more LOR. I have two from science profs, and would have liked my third to be from the director of the hospital who I scribed for. Unfortunately, with the crisis getting worse, all scribes were temporarily suspended for our safety and to preserve resources and PPE for hospital workers and patients. Understandable. But now I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to ask when he is far too busy. He sent me a nice text about having enjoyed having me as a scribe before I was formally informed, which makes me feel it is confirmation that we've established a good enough rapport for me to request it. But I'm worried it might be in poor taste when things are wild right now. Ideally, I would have asked last week and hopefully had it ready by May. Not sure what approach I should take. I currently do have a fallback LOR, but it's not going to be a strong one because it's related to an old job from a year ago.
Do you believe adcom would understand if I didn't have an LOR from scribing based on what has been going on?

You can still ask for a LoR. Things are busy, yes, and it may be delayed, yes, but from the sound of it it should be fine.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Have you asked the director? Everyone is busy, but some people will enjoy the respite of writing a strong LOR. You never know until you ask.

 

[Goro]

No Adcom would care that you don't have a scribe LOR. In fact, they would prefer one from a nonscience faculty member.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

@MusicDOc124 @Mr.Smile12 @Goro Thank you for the responses

I had a question regarding CASPer. I'm trying to turn in my app as early in June as possible. Any advice for when would be the best time to take the exam? For example, should I wait until/if I receive a secondary? Or would it be better to take it in May and have my scores already set even though I haven't even applied anywhere yet?

You'll need to contact the admissions offices about their preferences. They may only want the test taken during certain times to count towards your application.