Academic and Non-academic Reference Letter

[guacamole17]

For my non-academic reference letter I am having difficulty deciding on who to ask and was wondering if anyone has any opinions/insight 

Options:

- Fellow undergrad student who was the coordinator for a school service I was a part of

- Teacher for class I volunteered with multiple times a week in second year (1 year) 

- Supervisor for my Chem TA job (2 years) 

Also, for the academic reference letter, is it bad if you choose a prof that you had this past semester (cut short bc of covid)? My prof was a sweetheart and it was a small class, I think they would write me a really positive letter 

[premed72]

I dont think a fellow undergrad student as a referee is appropriate. I would definately stay far away from that option. Based on the info presented, I'd go with the supervisor (if they are employed by your school/faculty member). They can talk about a bunch of things if they observed you as a TA and the two years of them knowing you might stand out better.

Any prof will be fine. If you think they will write you a good one then go for it! 

Best of luck 

[Galaxsci]

Agree with the above, never have another student write a letter for you, regardless of the role you each played in an organization. I'd actually say that the teacher may be a good option to consider, potentially over the TA supervisor. You want the letter to be about you and why you as a human being are a good candidate for medicine. There's a chance the TA one could come across as being very similar to your academic reference depending on your relationship with the TA.

Also, since you submit three letters, you could always submit both along with your prof's letter.

[FrannieLydon]

Agree with potentially asking the teacher. Teachers can certainly speak to alot of the soft skills that schools are looking for in med applicants and perhaps in a more intimate or personal way than someone you knew in a more formal academic setting and I wouldn't underestimate the power of someone speaking more personally about the particular skills you may have deployed in a classroom setting.