would you include a letter like this?

[Xinlitik]

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I volunteered at a hospital for some time, and as part of the program, you are offered a LoR.

The flip side is that this LoR is from an MD who you never meet until he interviews you and writes "a brief personal letter of recommendation based on your reviews by our Department of Volunteer Services."

The hospital was a large place, and my only real contact with the staff in the volunteer dept. was brief hellos as I checked in, and the occasional small talk when I was telling them about a vacation etc. So, the letter would be essentially based on my attendance record and the interview. My attendance record was very good except in the final quarter, which is when an unavoidable lab schedule started cutting into 0-2 hrs of my assigned volunteer slot (which was the ultimate reason I stopped volunteering, actually).

Is it worthwhile to pursue this letter? I feel like it might be just be too impersonal/neutral

 

[apumic]

Sounds like a bad letter. Remember, there is no such thing as a "neutral" letter. They are either outstanding or poor (i.e., a mediocre or "good" but vague letter will do bad things to your app). You need one from a doc you've actually gotten to work alongside, not some medical administrator whom you've hardly met. Find a physician on your unit to write you a good letter. Heck, an NP charge nurse under whom you worked would be far better than some MD who hardly knows you.

 

[Dial71]

I don't agree with apumic about LoR, but this particular letter sounds weak.

Did you hit it off with any staff members while volunteering? Not just medical, but also nursing or allied health (respiratory, radiography, etc.). If you think one of them could write you a decent letter, you should ask.

Of course, I have to give you the boilerplate about needing a letter from a MD, too.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Were there any MDs in the hospital who got to know you and is this guy important? It is possible that he is doing you a favor by essentially editing and signing the letter of someone else because of the fact that his name will have more weight. It happens all the time here. My direct resident writes a letter for the big attending to read and sign.

 

[apumic]

Were there any MDs in the hospital who got to know you and is this guy important? It is possible that he is doing you a favor by essentially editing and signing the letter of someone else because of the fact that his name will have more weight. It happens all the time here. My direct resident writes a letter for the big attending to read and sign.

I'd agree with this. If the guy is basically signing or cosigning a letter from the docs on your unit, that could be a great letter. What I would be concerned about would be if he is simply writing the letter based upon your interview and such. If he is a medical director of one of the units and also does volunteer coordination on the side, his name could have a lot of weight but he needs to be able to write a letter that effectively points out your strengths as an applicant and potential for medicine.

 

[Xinlitik]

I think it's probably a better idea to skip the letter. I got to know some nurses, but never got a chance to interact with the ER Drs. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[imorbust]

I'd ask your premed advisor. Since this sounds like an established program for premeds and I assume it's near your school, I'd wager you're not the first applicant to do this program and have this question about their letters. Since they've probably both read the letters this doctor writes and also knows the outcomes of students from past years, they can give you a more specific idea of how valuable this letter is....since as others have pointed out, it could go either way.

This kind of letter (where one person writes a summary letter/evaluation based on multiple individual evaluations) is very common in medical school. E.g. when you apply to residency, your school writes a giant one covering your entire medical school career (Dean's Letter), and if you apply to certain specialties, one of your individual letters is expected to be from the department chair and usually is the sort of letter you describe (based on all evaluations plus an interview). What makes or breaks these letters is how good the letter writer is at making the letter individualized...plus, of course, the strength of the individual evals.