opinion on letter of recommendation from a pastor/clergy...?

[1realway]

Can anyone share their opinion on getting a letter of rec from a pastor?

I am thinking about getting one from him as my volunteer/community service manager, since I volunteered at the church and was deeply involved in its charity activities (and held high leadership position for years during my college).

Will some schools (that are not affiliated with any religion) become biased and automatically find me unattractive as their candidate due to my apparent association with a certain religion?

This is a dilemma for me that my volunteer experience at the church is very important part of my life, but then I read from some article that a letter from clergy will not be given a lot of weight, or even affect me negatively.

Thanks!

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[sunc92]

I had one as part of my committee letter (5 letter writers in total). I asked him because he had overseen me in so many of my volunteer/leadership ECs; medical missions trips, Sunday school teaching, and college group.

I'm sure some people reading your app will have some bias, but if you want to completely reduce the likelihood of that then you probably wouldn't include all the church activities in your activities section?

Maybe you can clarify with him to avoid discussing religion and focus on your character, service and why you'd make a good physician (he should already know this btw).

 

[sunshine859]

You could really run into bias with any activity (political clubs, activist organizations, etc), but I don't think that's a strong enough reason to leave it off of your application. Agree with above poster that you should make sure your pastor leaves any references about your level of religious devotion out of the letter, rather focus on your personal attributes as a volunteer.

 

[1realway]

I had one as part of my committee letter (5 letter writers in total). I asked him because he had overseen me in so many of my volunteer/leadership ECs; medical missions trips, Sunday school teaching, and college group.

I'm sure some people reading your app will have some bias, but if you want to completely reduce the likelihood of that then you probably wouldn't include all the church activities in your activities section?

Maybe you can clarify with him to avoid discussing religion and focus on your character, service and why you'd make a good physician (he should already know this btw).

Thank you!!

 

[1realway]

You could really run into bias with any activity (political clubs, activist organizations, etc), but I don't think that's a strong enough reason to leave it off of your application. Agree with above poster that you should make sure your pastor leaves any references about your level of religious devotion out of the letter, rather focus on your personal attributes as a volunteer.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[1realway]

The letter will be fine.

Thank you!