2 med school references. 1 workplace?

[neurophile]

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but is it acceptable to have two people from one workplace submit references for your med school application? It's going to be my supervisor and one of their PhD students. I worked very closely with both of them, and in slightly different capacities, and they both know me very well which is why I'm considering both of them. I have other options, but my other options do not know me as well. My third reference knows me well personally, too.

[wonnie84]

Hey,

I've received references from my supervisor and a post-doc in a lab that I worked for several years, which turned out fine for me. My suggestion is to go for the referee who you believe will give you the best reference (e.g., caring enough to take the time in completing the reference and providing examples that really showcase your qualities as opposed to stating how great you are in general). Often, supervisors are quite busy with other commitments and I had an experience of my supervisor submitting the reference few minutes before the deadline, which almost drove me to insanity  

I am not sure how having a PhD student as a reference will be viewed though. Perhaps, others can chime in.

Plus, references are usually pass or fail so as long as your references do not raise any red flags, you should be fine. 

[lulu95]

I think it's usually preferred that your references are from different places so that they can speak to your capacities in different roles (academics, community, leadership, etc). While it may not be viewed negatively (and I'm not entirely sure about that), you're missing out on a chance to have you references help you showcase how you fit with different aspects of CANMEDS. You may think that the others don't know you as well, but if you have a conversation with them about it, you'll get a better gauge of whether that's true; sometimes people are more observant than you might think. 

Also, depending on where you're applying, they may not accept the PhD student as the reference when there is another supervisor available. Saskatchewan, at least,  told me to use my PI as the reference when I asked about it, despite the fact that I rarely saw the PI and mostly worked with the PhD student. 

[applicant111]

It is acceptable. Two of my references were from the same volunteer organization that I've been with for ~10 years, and my application wasn't affected negatively. 

However, I did feel that my references were going to be able to touch on most of the canmeds, so I was comfortable with my decision.

[Pippa756]

On 7/7/2017 at 1:45 PM, lulu95 said:

I think it's usually preferred that your references are from different places so that they can speak to your capacities in different roles (academics, community, leadership, etc). While it may not be viewed negatively (and I'm not entirely sure about that), you're missing out on a chance to have you references help you showcase how you fit with different aspects of CANMEDS. You may think that the others don't know you as well, but if you have a conversation with them about it, you'll get a better gauge of whether that's true; sometimes people are more observant than you might think. 

Also, depending on where you're applying, they may not accept the PhD student as the reference when there is another supervisor available. Saskatchewan, at least,  told me to use my PI as the reference when I asked about it, despite the fact that I rarely saw the PI and mostly worked with the PhD student. 

Totally agree - make sure that the referees won't just be referring to the same qualities and experiences. If that is likely might be best to make sure you have other referees that will hit other aspects of CANMEDS.  

[neurophile]

On 2017-07-07 at 8:08 AM, wonnie84 said:

Hey,

I've received references from my supervisor and a post-doc in a lab that I worked for several years, which turned out fine for me. My suggestion is to go for the referee who you believe will give you the best reference (e.g., caring enough to take the time in completing the reference and providing examples that really showcase your qualities as opposed to stating how great you are in general). Often, supervisors are quite busy with other commitments and I had an experience of my supervisor submitting the reference few minutes before the deadline, which almost drove me to insanity  

I am not sure how having a PhD student as a reference will be viewed though. Perhaps, others can chime in.

Plus, references are usually pass or fail so as long as your references do not raise any red flags, you should be fine. 

 

On 2017-07-07 at 1:45 PM, lulu95 said:

I think it's usually preferred that your references are from different places so that they can speak to your capacities in different roles (academics, community, leadership, etc). While it may not be viewed negatively (and I'm not entirely sure about that), you're missing out on a chance to have you references help you showcase how you fit with different aspects of CANMEDS. You may think that the others don't know you as well, but if you have a conversation with them about it, you'll get a better gauge of whether that's true; sometimes people are more observant than you might think. 

Also, depending on where you're applying, they may not accept the PhD student as the reference when there is another supervisor available. Saskatchewan, at least,  told me to use my PI as the reference when I asked about it, despite the fact that I rarely saw the PI and mostly worked with the PhD student. 

 

On 2017-07-07 at 4:27 PM, applicant111 said:

It is acceptable. Two of my references were from the same volunteer organization that I've been with for ~10 years, and my application wasn't affected negatively. 

However, I did feel that my references were going to be able to touch on most of the canmeds, so I was comfortable with my decision.

 

On 2017-07-12 at 2:41 PM, Pippa756 said:

Totally agree - make sure that the referees won't just be referring to the same qualities and experiences. If that is likely might be best to make sure you have other referees that will hit other aspects of CANMEDS.  

Thank you for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it. Life has been so hectic that I haven't been on here in a while. I decided to postpone applying broadly for one year (only applying to UBC this year) which will give me more time to decide on who to ask for letters of recommendation. 

[Pippa756]

On 8/6/2017 at 8:41 PM, neurophile said:

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it. Life has been so hectic that I haven't been on here in a while. I decided to postpone applying broadly for one year (only applying to UBC this year) which will give me more time to decide on who to ask for letters of recommendation. 

That's where the real value of the forums can be - good for you with your decision - sounds like you had good reasons to make it!

 

[neurophile]

On 2017-08-09 at 2:04 PM, Pippa756 said:

That's where the real value of the forums can be - good for you with your decision - sounds like you had good reasons to make it!

 

Thanks