*~*~* Official Letters of Recommendation Questions Thread 2013-2014 *~*~*

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Hey all,

I'm applying to a few Osteopathic schools that require a physician LOR. Finding a DO in my area was tough, but I was able to shadow one for a long day. The DO also agreed to write me a LOR. However, I know this probably won't be the strongest LOR since I was only able to shadow for a day. On the other hand, I know an MD is writing me a much stronger letter. Should I use the meh DO letter or the stronger MD letter to fulfill DO school requirements?

thanks
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Assuming these schools aren't the ones that require a DO letter, my personal opinion would be to use the stronger letter. You could also just send both if possible. I had both a MD and DO physician letter for the school I'm attending.
 
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exitonly29 said:
MCAT it's all up to you. Asking for letters sucks. It's like hey want to spend part of your day doing something you don't want to. Some are more than happy to do other times it can be a pain
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Particularly with verbal, people study hard and still bomb.

Start with a friendly e-mail and see if they'll set up an appointment with you to discuss the LOR. I've never heard of the asking part being an issue.
 
First of all, I tried to find this from google and SDN, but do not know exactly how to phrase it. I will be applying for med school next year, and I am just starting to shadow a physician here in the next week. I know that I will wait more towards then end of my shadowing experience with this doctor till I ask for a LOR. My question is...Do I wait till I start my application after this year or do I ask for it in the fall semester and give it to my school. I really just don't completely understand the process if you cannot tell. If you have a different thread that talks about this, I would appreciate if you copied/pasted it here. Thanks!
 
Still waiting on that committee LOR. I Don't mean to be a paranoid pre-med, but would being complete by 2nd or third week of August still be considered early?
 
coolingglasses said:
Particularly with verbal, people study hard and still bomb.

Start with a friendly e-mail and see if they'll set up an appointment with you to discuss the LOR. I've never heard of the asking part being an issue.
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practice practice practice !!!
 
I got lucky and I was almost forced a letter of recommendation upon by the DO I shadowed. I got exceedingly lucky with my first shadowing experience because I've seen many bad experiences here on SDN. (Both DO and MD of course haha)
 
I am kinda curious if you do not mind sending it my way. I can try and be as constructive as possible. I can compare it to the letter I got. Not exceedingly experienced in this though.
 
Ill take a look too and chime in.
 
I know it'd look good, but is a necessity? I don't see a DO LOR requirement for LECOM. Anecdotally, I didn't have a DO letter--just two PhDs and a MD.
 
Thanks for the reply NeuroLAX. DMU is an example of a school I applied to that takes either an MD or DO. I have heard a lot on this site that a DO letter can be a game changer so I wasn't sure what to do.
 
babdoc said:
I know it'd look good, but is a necessity? I don't see a DO LOR requirement for LECOM. Anecdotally, I didn't have a DO letter--just two PhDs and a MD.
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I am pretty sure that LECOM requires DO LOR
 
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Fair enough. The OP might verify that bc it doesn't seem that clear on their site
 
Thought it was a solid LOR. Nothing alarming or bad--the physician offered a nice little plug for you. Should be sufficient.

I wasn't blown away, but that is what the interview is for.

I get the impression that LOR, especially from shadowed doctors, tend to be something that is only there to further benefit the application. No doctor will ever not recommend. It's all about how much praise is offered, and he offered some praise.

For what it's worth, the best LOR, as I have been told, was from a famous professor who simply wrote: "This guy is a genius."
 
AHRATHORE12 said:
No doctor will ever not recommend.
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Oh... this isn't true. It's exceedingly rare mind you... most doctors will take the "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything" approach and just decline to write a letter. We see it more in emergency medicine when medical students get something called a SLOR (now called a SLOE)... it's a form designed to be completed by program directors or other faculty and is supposed to objectively compare an applicant to other applicants. PDs usually handle these with aplomb... but if a faculty member fills it out and isn't used to writing them, in the comments section I've seen some very frank and... not so stellar comments... the sort of thing that makes me set the application aside into the bad stack.
 
You can use a letter compiling service like Interfolio to store confidential letters until you apply. This also makes it easy to send the letters to all the programs you get secondaries from next summer.
 
jayhawker1193 said:
Do most undergrads offer this service?
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Interfolio is it's own service, it is what powers the AACOMAS application. The website is Interfolio.com. Many colleges will hold on to your letters for you and compile them in Interfolio or a similar program until you ask them to release them. I chose to cut out the middle man and have done on my letters through Interfolio on my own.
 
Doctor Bob said:
Oh... this isn't true. It's exceedingly rare mind you... most doctors will take the "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything" approach and just decline to write a letter. We see it more in emergency medicine when medical students get something called a SLOR (now called a SLOE)... it's a form designed to be completed by program directors or other faculty and is supposed to objectively compare an applicant to other applicants. PDs usually handle these with aplomb... but if a faculty member fills it out and isn't used to writing them, in the comments section I've seen some very frank and... not so stellar comments... the sort of thing that makes me set the application aside into the bad stack.
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Agreed. Although, and this may be more hope than fact, I suspect physicians are less critical of college students who are shadowing. Perhaps the recommendation will just be less beneficial.
 
AHRATHORE12 said:
Agreed. Although, and this may be more hope than fact, I suspect physicians are less critical of college students who are shadowing. Perhaps the recommendation will just be less beneficial.
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Yes... expectations are less at the college level. There's no expectation that medical knowledge or proficiency will be demonstrated; at that level, interest is all that's needed. And if you aren't there showing interest, then why even ask for a LOR. So they tend to almost all be positive.
 
PathMD2be said:
Does this mean why entering grades into AACOMAS I designate my biological and physical anthropology as "science" instead of "non-science"?
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Yes, it would be "other science."
 
I'm waiting on my second science professor still, which is a little nerve wracking since I have an interview invite from LECOM and I don't want to schedule it until I'm sure I'll have my letter in time... I'm also putting off a couple secondaries because I don't have it. A wee bit frustrating to say the least.
 
Yea well at least you have at an interview @ Lecom, congrats btw! I was hoping everything would be completed early since my numbers are meh.

You think we'll still be early even if its another couple of weeks?
 
ToKingdomCome said:
Yea well at least you have at an interview @ Lecom, congrats btw! I was hoping everything would be completed early since my numbers are meh.

You think we'll still be early even if its another couple of weeks?
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I'm doing the exact same thing. Still waiting on another science professor LOR and it's literally the only thing standing in the way of most of my applications. This. Sucks.

I guess all we can do is wait and and constantly follow up..
 
Still waiting for me final science LOR

Asked her in the end of MAY
Always saying "I will get it to you ASAP, almost done!"

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
So, the physician LOR I sent to DO schools is from an MD who is faculty/admin at my state school. In the letter she/he states that the initial acquaintance with me was through a family member who works for the school as well as her/his position with the school. Does anyone think schools will look at this negatively? i.e., "He has connections to his state MD school, is he really even interested in attending a DO school?" I guess I'm more concerned if the, "how would you choose between multiple acceptances? What if you're offered an MD acceptance and a DO acceptance?" questions come-up during interviews, and if adcoms would honestly believe my response. Just being neurotic I guess, and curious if I'll be fine with this letter or if I should still try and get a DO letter to send as well.
 
Not at all. I never sought a DO letter and I was accepted at 3 DO schools. Just make sure you apply to schools that don't have the DO letter requirement. As for the connection, why worry? If he's writing you a good review, what would it matter?
 
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I am taking the MCAT in Sept. I have received a majority of my secondaries. I was wondering if it is okay to start submitting my LORs for those?
 
Why wouldn't it be ok...? Yes send your letters.
 
I had my DO writer upload his letter to my interfolio account and he uploaded it as a non-confidential letter. I think it is a pretty sound letter but I wanted to reach out and have a few people run through it and tell me if it is at all a cookie-cutter letter or if is lacking any key elements.

PM me if you are willing to help me out here and i'll show a copy or paste the text in a message. Thanks!
 
Hi, I wouldn't mind taking a look at it. By the way, do all schools accept a non-confidential letter?
 
I could be wrong but I believe you as the recipient gets to decide whether or not it is a confidential letter, not your submitter.
 
I sent the interfolio request as a confidential letter and it came back as non-confidential and my DO letter writer told me that I could view if I would like to.
 
Will the DO school see it as non-confidential or confidential? I thought some schools only accept confidential letters.
 
Found another prof lol
Even got to write my own.

Sent from my SGH-T889V using Tapatalk 2
 
Lol you found another professor who is letting you write your own?
 
I'll be waiting a lot longer from the looks of it. If anyone is reading this and planning on applying in the future, know that there is no such thing as too early to ask.
 
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