letters of reconmendation

[Guest magicbullet57]

hey,

 

what combination of reconmendation letters (3) do med schools usually want? 2 from profs and 1 from extracurricular (EC) or 1 from prof and 2 from EC, etc?

 

is it advisable to get a letter from my volunteer position from a hospital? i've been working with the techs there for about a year now but don't know if they know me that well. thanks.

[Guest moo]

Usually all profs. You can add a LOR from a volunteer experience but is unlikely to benefit or hurt your application.

[Guest magicbullet57]

wouldn't 3 letters from profs paint a very one-dimensional picture of you (i heard this from someone that applied)? so that's why i was trying to balance it out.

[Guest Madz25]

You should check the school's website. Some schools (NYMC) want 3 letters only from profs. Others don't care who they are from (Columbia, Stanford). Some other schools only want 2 letters from profs and you may add additional letters from superivsors/employers if you wish to do so, but its not necessary. Some schools want letters from profs in certain departments etc etc etc. Its best to check the website of whichever school(s) you're interested in.

 

Madz

[Guest moo]

For me, I exclusively got letters from profs when I applied four years ago. Two science and one "other". I had nothing from employers/volunteer supervisors. It did not hinder my application at all.

[Guest dr555]

From my impression, it seems as though American schools emphasize obtaining academically-oriented letters of reference. Canadian schools seem to like a well-rounded picture. Is this true?

 

Other questions regarding ref letters:

 

1) Did you guys send the letters at the same time as the AMCAS applications...or when you received the supplementary applications?

 

2) I know that Cdn schools don't mind high school refs, as long as there's a good reason to...do u think this option would hurt an app to a us school?

 

thanks,

dr555

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

When applying to the US schools I used a documentation service (interfolio.com) which kept an inventory of my letters. I ordered that the letters be sent as soon as they were requested by each school, via the documentation service. It was a very straightforward process.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Madz25]

Hi Kirsteen,

 

Wouldn't the schools want original copies of the letters? Also, did all schools accept them as I have noticed on certain secondary applications they only provide spaces to fill in information regarding "pre-med advisory committee" or individual references (none for confidential letter collection service). Thanks in advance.

 

Madz

[Guest moo]

A lot of US undergraduate colleges have pre-med services to collect your letters and send it off to schools. US schools value academic references much more so than other references. As a result, high school references are almost never accepted as one of your three required academic references.

[Guest magicbullet57]

how well did you know your profs before approaching them for LORs? is simply going to hour offices enough?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there Madz25,

 

Every US and Canadian medical school to which I applied accepted letters from Interfolio. A number of these letters were sent confidentially from Interfolio and this can be done by specifying, when the letter writer uploads the file to Interfolio, that it is to be kept confidential, i.e., never released to you, or viewable by you.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest moo]

My profs knew me fairly well. I was in math and physics so classes were small and everybody knew everybody. This worked out doubly well because not only were classes small (some less than 10 per class) so the profs knew me very well, but I used physics letters as my science letters and math as my non-science letter, otherwise I don't know where I would've found a non-science letter.

[Guest magicbullet57]

hey moo, thanks for your response. may i know how long you knew your profs before asking for the letters?

 

i've always had new profs each year but this coming year, some of them will from the classes i took this year. would this be a good oppurtunity to get to know them better since i've been exposed to them before?

 

also, when did you ask? was it at the end of the year but before may or june? sorry i have so many questions.

[Guest Madz25]

moo,

 

that's the issue i'm having - with the non-science reference. do you think it will affect my application siginificantly if i don't provide a non-science reference (for schools that request one)?

 

madz

[Guest moo]

Yeah the non-science letter is a drag. Math counts as a non-science so if you've taken any math courses and you've done well and you know the prof reasonably well then that's a good choice. You can also surf on over to forums.studentdoctor.net and post something over there. They might have a better idea of how to get a non-science letter.

[Guest Madz25]

I'm getting one from one of my profs that taught me a bio course but is also in the statistics department (which falls under math). I asked her to use the statistics department letterhead. Hopefully that will be ok

 

Madz

[Guest sajani]

Anyone know of any schools which don't accept letters from Interfolio?

 

Thanks

[Guest dr555]

Do referees have to complete standardized evaluation forms in addition to the letters? ( Cdn OR american)

 

I have not come across any information on this so far...have I just missed it completely?!

 

dr555

[Guest Madz25]

I haven't come across any American school that has an additional evaluation form. Many Canadian schools do, though. Dalhousie, OMSAS, Alberta and/or Calgary are the only ones I can think of right now.

 

Madz

[Guest jaegwon]

Kirsteen...if you happen to read this, did you also use Interfolio for transcripts? If so, was this universally acceptable?

thanks,

Jaegwon

[Guest DoNair]

Kirsteen,

 

Would you mind sharing which US and Canadian med schools you used Interfolio for?

 

Thanks

[Guest QuestionMan23213]

Hey everyone,

I have a couple of questions regarding letters of recommendation, not addressed above.

 

1) Are letters of reference to be mailed directly to each school you apply to, or can we just have 1 copy of each letter sent to AMCAS and they forward the letters to all the schools? If they have to be sent directly to schools, how do you go about asking your referees to print X # of letters (if you're applying to a large # of schools)?

 

2) When do the letters have to be sent in? Can you arrange to have them sent in to AMCAS before submitting the online application (primary app)?

 

3) Is it possible for my prof to send me the letter of reference in a stamped, sealed envelope and I mail them to each school/AMCAS, or do the profs have to send them themselves?

 

Thanks for the help.

QM

[Guest jaegwon]

I can answer a couple of those:

 

1) AMCAS won't distribute your letters for you. That's why there has been discussion on this thread about services like interfolio.com...that's probably the best way to save your letters writers from mailing multiple identical letters. Also, there aren't many, but a few schools do have specific forms to use, so you'll have to do those individually

 

2) see #1

 

3) I think you should have them sent directly to the schools. Your suggestion might be ok, but why would you want to take the chance that its not?