Non-academic Reference Letter

[Rarkon]

The Queen's med application require a non-academic reference letter. Does that mean they want the letter to have a non academic focus, or does the letter have to be from someone not associated with your education? Also if the latter, then is a research supervisor considered academic or non-academic?

 

Thanks.

[Odie]

don't all med schools require that? I mean it's part of the OMSAS app...everything we need to complete for the med schools is under OMSAS, no?

[Rarkon]

I think all Ontario med schools require 3 reference letters, but they have different requirement for who should write those letters. I'm just worried that I won't have a non-academic referee to meet Queen's requirement.

[n00b]

What are the reference letter requirements?

 

I thought you could get any 3?

[jelly31]

I got one of my supervisors from grad school to write one for me (academic reference), the principal investigator from my research work (work-related reference) and the clinical supervisor from one of my volunteer positions at a clinic to be my non-academic/community reference. I'm not sure if ON schools explicitly state that one ref must be non-academic, but I followed the advice of someone who got in a few years ago and used 1 academic reference, 1 employment-related reference and 1 community-related reference. HTH.

[Prion]

Hi, I stumbled on this thread and don't think OP's question was completely resolved. On the OMSAS document, they asked for at least one "non-academic/character referee". I assume the slash means and/or? So does the person have to be someone you know outside of your academic institution? I have great relationship with two profs whom I both did research/taken courses for. I'm sure they can comment on my characters better than a volunteer co-ordinator at a hospital whom I've only spoken with a few times.

 

Should I include the volunteer reference just for the sake of fulfilling the non-academic referee requirement? And at the same time ask the two profs to comment both on my academic and personal characters?

[future_doc]

Hi, I stumbled on this thread and don't think OP's question was completely resolved. On the OMSAS document, they asked for at least one "non-academic/character referee". I assume the slash means and/or? So does the person have to be someone you know outside of your academic institution? I have great relationship with two profs whom I both did research/taken courses for. I'm sure they can comment on my characters better than a volunteer co-ordinator at a hospital whom I've only spoken with a few times.

 

Should I include the volunteer reference just for the sake of fulfilling the non-academic referee requirement? And at the same time ask the two profs to comment both on my academic and personal characters?

 

If the profs have knowledge and insight into your character, know about your activities etc., they are ideal to deal with both academic and non-acedemic reference. So, yes, I would do as you suggest. Give the volunteer supervisor your CV and perhaps, Essay/Personal Statement so he is aware in more detail of who you are (and bring along a draft LOR in case he might be too busy and would appreciate a draft for him to consider as he deems fit).