General Question about References

[Guest medhopeful04]

Hello all!

 

I have a general question about getting references. Usually, med schools want at least one or two academic references, which is fine. Then it's also recommended to have one (or two) non-academic references. So my question pertains to the latter part: I have had many experiences in volunteering and working, but in the last year I've mainly been working in an academic setting (i.e. as a TA and research assistant in my department). I have been volunteering for a few months (since May) at a community service program, but most of my other main volunteer experiences are from 2001 and earlier. I also worked as a research assistant for a medical doctor in the summer of 2001. I've used some of those as references before, but given that they were 2 years ago, I'm reluctant to go back and bug them yet again...

 

So to sum that all up, would it still be acceptable to include a 'non-academic' reference from a professor who supervised my TAship or research assistantship over the past year, even though it was in an academic setting? Or would it 'look better' to have the people who supervised my volunteer experiences as referees?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Guest peachy]

My three references were all from professors (one was my TA supervisor also, actually) and it didn't seem to be a problem; I wouldn't worry about it

[Guest UWOMED2005]

I only had one reference from a science prof - that didn't seem to be a problem either.

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

I had two profs who I had TA'd for as an undergrad and my high school music teacher as my referees. It didn't seem to matter that I had used an "old" reference that much...

 

Best of luck!

Timmy