How Do You Know What Lors Are Good Amcas

By: Rob Humbracht

The topic on which I get the most questions every application bicycle is letters of recommendation.  The following FAQ represents every question I've received over the past few years.

Have a question that we haven't answered here?  Delight submit a comment, Facebook post , or Twitter message and we will:

1. respond to y'all personally, and
2. add the question to this article so that it becomes the most comprehensive FAQ it can be.

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LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION FAQ

• Introduction
• How many letters are required by med schools?
• What'southward a committee letter of the alphabet?
• Should I get a committee letter of the alphabet?
• How many med schools require ii messages? Three? Four? Five?
• Which two schools require five messages?
• What'south the maximum number of letters I can ship?
• What's the ideal ready of letters?
• Why professors who gave you a form?
• What qualifies as a science professor?
• What qualifies every bit non-science?
• Other than professors, who else can write me a alphabetic character of rec?
• What letters are bad to get?
• Exercise I accept to have a letter of the alphabet from my major?
• What makes one letter of the alphabet better than another?

• Do I get to see my messages of recommendation?
• When are letters of recommendation due?
• When should I inquire for letters?
• Can I submit additional letters in one case I have applied?
• How practise I overcome my anxiety about asking for a letter of rec?
• How should I enquire for a letter?
• What are some tips for requesting messages of recommendation?
• What if my letter of the alphabet writer asks me advice for what to say and how to say information technology?
• Where do I find sample letters of recommendation?
• How should I go to know my professors?
• Practice my messages have to be signed and put on official letterhead?
• What if one of my letter writers disappears?

INTRODUCTION

The rule of pollex for messages of recommendation: Get the Best Fix of Letters You lot Can.

It will exist tempting to get lost in the nuances and details of how many letters to get, which people to choose, and what each med school's requirements are.  When in doubt, refer back to our rule of thumb, and remember that your chances volition be helped the well-nigh by getting letters from people who support yous wholeheartedly, who know yous personally, and who can write the best letters on your behalf.

HOW MANY Messages ARE REQUIRED Past MED SCHOOLS?

It depends on the schoolhouse.  US medical schools typically crave 2 or three letters of recommendation, but some require every bit many every bit 5.

Typically, you lot'll demand the post-obit letters of recommendation:

1. Choice 1 - A committee letter of the alphabet, or
2. Option 2 - Three individual letters, two letters from scientific discipline kinesthesia and ane additional letter

WHAT'S A COMMITTEE LETTER?

A committee letter of the alphabet, or composite letter of the alphabet, is written by the pre-med advising function of your higher or university.  Not every college offers such a alphabetic character, and a quick glance at your career services website should answer whether your school does.

SHOULD I Go A COMMITTEE Letter?

If you accept the pick, then aye, you probably should.  Call back of the commission letter of the alphabet as Yelp.  Sure, you might try a eating place that has no reviews, just you'd probably be more than interested in eating at a eating place with 4.5 stars.

Then that analogy isn't perfect, only I call back y'all get the point: information technology'southward better to get a committee letter if you tin.  If you lot don't, med schools might wonder whether there's something you lot're trying to hide or whether you were told by the committee that they didn't recollect y'all were a stiff candidate.

In that location are dozens of exceptions to this dominion:

• Some colleges don't offer committee letters to non-science majors
• Some colleges don't offering committee messages to alums
• Some colleges accept several additional hoops y'all have to jump through that may make you ineligible to get a committee letter

The takeaway: Get a committee letter if you lot can, merely information technology won't ruin your chances if you can't.

HOW MANY MED SCHOOLS Require Two LETTERS?  THREE? FOUR?  FIVE?

Nosotros researched how many messages were required at each medical school and and so put the results into a histogram.  The chart below shows how many schools require at to the lowest degree 0, 1, 2... letters of recommendation.

WHICH TWO SCHOOLS Require Five Messages?

University of Fundamental Florida and University of South Florida.

Here's what those v look like for UCF:

https://med.ucf.edu/authoritative-offices/student-affairs/admissions/admissions-process/letters-of-recommendation/

For traditional applicants (applicants who have no more than one year off before starting medical schoolhouse), UCF requests:

• "three individual faculty letters - two letters from basic science kinesthesia, and one from a not-science kinesthesia member, or one Pre-Med/Pre-Professional Composite Committee Alphabetic character
• two character letters - these letters should be from those who tin tell united states of america nearly "who" you are. Authors may be those who have been your supervisor, friend, neighbor, someone you accept volunteered with or shadowed, someone from an system or lodge that you vest to, clergy, etc. 1 of these two letters may exist from an academic peer."

To cover your bases, plan to ask for at least three and probably at least four letters of recommendation.

WHAT'Due south THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF LETTERS I Can SEND?

More often than not, information technology'south not advisable to send more than five.  The goal is to take the overall quality of your letters be as high equally possible.

Imagine that you were giving a alphabetic character grade for the quality of each alphabetic character of recommendation y'all are sending to medical schools.  The grade is based on how well the alphabetic character writer knows y'all, with an A being "close personal friend," and F being "doesn't know my proper name."

You lot might take letter grades that await like the following:

Science Letter of the alphabet 1   A-

Science Letter 2   B+

Non-Science professor   A-

Other i   A

Other 2   B

Other 3   B-

Other iv   C

You lot should pick the set up of letters with the highest overall course signal boilerplate.  In this case, your best bet is to pick the first four letters of the ready.  Those 4 letters give an average of an A-.  By including each additional letter, you bring downwardly the average of the set up and substantially waste the time of your application reader, who now has to wade through a much larger pile of crappy letters.

Simply of course, if you're curious what's the maximum that all medical schools volition take, nosotros researched that too and came up with the following histogram:

Even though some medical schools will have up to 13 letters, most cut you off after 6 or 7 messages, and some will have only 3!

WHAT'S THE IDEAL SET OF Letters?

Let'southward outline the "utopian" set of messages for medical school.  I phone call it utopian, because while it is ideal, most applicants don't really achieve the post-obit set of letters:

1. Science Professor who gave you lot a grade
2. Science Professor who gave yous a grade
3. Non-scientific discipline Professor who gave yous a grade
4. Other i
5. Other ii

WHY PROFESSORS WHO GAVE YOU A Grade?

Letters of recommendation should comment on your academic abilities, so professors who have given you a grade are ameliorate able to do that.

WHAT QUALIFIES AS A Scientific discipline PROFESSOR?

Most med schools prefer biological science, chemistry, or physics, just they probably won't disqualify you if y'all submit a letter from a subject area such as engineering, ecology scientific discipline, or kinesiology.  While it is ideal to have letters from the basic sciences, see the Dominion of Pollex above: get the best prepare of letters yous tin can.

WHAT QUALIFIES AS Not-SCIENCE?

Whatever subject area outside of biology, chemistry, or physics.

OTHER THAN PROFESSORS, WHO ELSE CAN WRITE ME A Letter of the alphabet OF REC?

The almost mutual are:

• Doctors you shadowed
• Main investigators (or whomever you did research with)
• Faculty advisors of clubs
• Another health care professional (a dentist, a nurse, etc.) who can comment on your abilities to work with patients

WHAT LETTERS ARE BAD TO GET?

Plain, anyone who isn't positively glowing about your awarding will hurt you.  Ever hear the expression, "Damned by faint praise?"  That applies to letters of recommendation for med school.

Some letters won't exist given a lot of weight:

• Letters from family members
• Letters from clergy
• Messages from "family unit friends" - if they don't know you lot specifically in a professional person setting
• Messages from teaching administration - it's non that they hurt your application, but they volition not suffice for the science messages required by about medical schools.

DO I Take TO Have A LETTER FROM MY MAJOR?

No.  Some med schools (a minority of all schools) request one.  In other words, go one if you can, only don't sweat it if you don't.

WHAT MAKES ONE LETTER BETTER THAN ANOTHER?

Check out "How to Write Your Own Letter of Recommendation"

Exercise I Get TO Encounter MY Letters OF RECOMMENDATION?

No.  Yous should waive your right to read your messages.  If med schools see that you haven't waived your correct, they won't believe a word written in the letter.

If your letter writer knows yous're going to read the letter, he or she only will not put anything substantial in that letter of the alphabet.  Information technology's like asking your fellow whether that dress makes you expect fatty; pretty much the only response you'll get will be "of form not." (whether or non that'due south true, the adventure of saying otherwise is worse than the reward of being truthful).

WHEN ARE Letters OF RECOMMENDATION DUE?

Letters of recommendation are typically not due until you submit your secondary application, which at the earliest would be July of the year you apply.

The vast bulk of med schools do non read letters of recommendation until every other role of your awarding has been submitted.  That ways they will not read your letters until they receive:

• Your master application
• Your secondary application
• Your payment for both main and secondary
• Any pending MCAT scores that you may accept

Even for schools that screen before sending secondaries, they rarely read letters of rec to make up one's mind who gets a secondary.  Whether you go a secondary is typically based on your GPA and MCAT as well as a read of the primary application, excluding letters of recommendation.

WHEN SHOULD I ASK FOR LETTERS?

You lot want to give the letter writer at least two weeks and preferably more.  Information technology'due south not uncommon for a letter writer to take two to three months to write your letter of the alphabet.  If yous're applying in June, nosotros recommend asking for letters no later than May i.

If you have a pre-med committee, then y'all may need to asking letters much sooner.

Can I SUBMIT Additional LETTERS Once I Have APPLIED?

Yes!  Messages of recommendation is 1 of iii sections of the AMCAS that can be modified after you hit submit (the others: your school list and your contact information).  You just log dorsum into your application and request additional messages.

HOW Exercise I OVERCOME MY Feet ABOUT ASKING FOR A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION?

I've written an unabridged postal service on why it feels so bad-mannered to inquire for a letter of rec:

http://world wide web.savvypremed.com/savvy-pre-med/2014/seven/27/why-does-it-feel-and so-bad-mannered-to-enquire-for-a-letter of the alphabet-of-recommendation

It doesn't seem similar information technology should exist so intimidating to ask a professor for a letter of recommendation, just it is.  Worries race through our minds:

"What if he doesn't recollect me?"

"She has more important things to do."

"What will I do if he says no?"

While it tin experience uncomfortable to enquire for a letter of rec, remember that you're not the first person to ask this professor.  Professors are used to this process, and they've seen all fashion of requests - rude, annoying, meek, bashful - they're expecting you (and many of your classmates) to asking a letter.

Second, y'all're not asking for much.  Virtually letters of recommendation - even the adept ones - follow a template, and letters take maybe 45 minutes to creepo out.  You lot're asking for a solid favor, just information technology's not that much of a fourth dimension commitment.

HOW SHOULD I Enquire FOR A LETTER?

First off, be certain to ask for the alphabetic character in person if possible.  If that's non possible, try to arrange a telephone call.  Because you don't get to read the letter, yous want to evaluate the enthusiasm of the letter writer to aid determine how skillful this letter volition be.  The best clues are the non-verbal ones you can get only past request for a letter in person.

Steps:

1. Send an email request to meet to discuss your application to medical schoolhouse.  Nothing too complicated, but ask to drop past office hours or invite the professor to coffee.  Don't enquire for the letter in the email, considering yous'd like to ask in person (but if the professor responds by wondering whether you lot want a letter of the alphabet, and then by all means brand your intentions clear).
2. At the meeting, ask for a strong letter of recommendation.  Request for a stiff letter does several things that are beneficial for you:

• It allows the professor to say no (and trust me, y'all'd rather her say no than get a bad alphabetic character)
• It allows the professor to reply to the word "strong," by either affirming that the letter will indeed be stiff or that she cannot write you a strong letter.  Either way, this provides more information every bit y'all endeavour to evaluate the forcefulness of your letters.

1. After the professor agrees, inquire "What can I give you lot to assistance you write that letter of the alphabet?"  Mind carefully to what the professor says.  Follow upwardly with whatsoever the professor requests as soon as you can.  It's easy for the professor to lose track that he agreed to write yous a alphabetic character, so yous desire to follow up with the requested materials soon to proceed the momentum going on your letter of recommendation.

WHAT ARE SOME TIPS FOR REQUESTING Messages OF RECOMMENDATION?

These are first-class: http://www.usnews.com/educational activity/blogs/medical-school-admissions-doctor/2015/04/14/seven-tips-for-nailing-medical-schoolhouse-letters-of-recommendation

WHAT IF MY Letter of the alphabet WRITER ASKS ME ADVICE FOR WHAT TO SAY AND HOW TO SAY Information technology?

Send them this: http://world wide web.aamc.org/download/349990/data/lettersguidelinesbrochure.pdf

WHERE Practice I FIND SAMPLE Letters OF RECOMMENDATION?

http://depts.washington.edu/gowwami/AWARE/documents2012/CarolTeitzLORsamples.pdf

HOW SHOULD I GET TO KNOW MY PROFESSORS?

A lot of the students we piece of work with go to huge research universities, where their smallest science class has 50 people in it.  In this surround information technology'due south on you lot, the student, to get to know your professors.

Here are some tips from one-time students nosotros've worked with well-nigh how to be proactive in getting to know their professors:

• Go to office hours when no one else volition exist there - week 1, right after mid-term test
• Become to office hours with something outside of the class to talk virtually professor's research, ask virtually prof's family and groundwork, how class material applies to one of your other interests
• Take the same professor for more than one class
• Do research with a professor - either in the professor's lab or on independent project
• Become a teaching banana for that professor

DO MY LETTERS HAVE TO BE SIGNED AND PUT ON OFFICIAL LETTERHEAD?

Some med schools require it.  This past cycle, Boston Academy notified 1 of our students that 1 of her letters was not on official letterhead, then she had to contact the alphabetic character writer to re-submit the alphabetic character.  It wasn't a huge bargain, and no other schools she practical to notified her of the effect.  Yous should tell your letter writers to put the letters on letterhead, but it probably won't matter much if they don't.

WHAT IF One OF MY LETTER WRITERS DISAPPEARS?

It happens every twelvemonth to several of our students: they ask for a letter of recommendation, the professor says "yes," and he stops returning phone calls and emails.  The students are stuck without a critical letter (usually, information technology'due south a science professor who disappears).

You tin't help whether this happens to you, but yous tin can do the following to assist mitigate the damage:

1. Inquire for a fill-in letter of the alphabet in case one of your letters of recommendation does not come up through.  Yous can receive up to 10 letters of recommendation in AMCAS and selection and cull which ones you forward to medical schools afterward.  It's much better to have likewise many letters than too few.
2. Ask for letters of recommendation early.March is ideal.  If a professor disappears later asking for a letter early on, you still accept plenty of time to observe some other professor to ask.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS!

WILL IT Be LOOKED Downwards UPON TO Non INCLUDE LETTERS WRITTEN By SCIENCE Kinesthesia?

Question:

I'grand a non-trad applicant who is applying 5 years out of college. Volition information technology be looked down upon to not include letters written by science faculty? They would be replaced by MDs that I work with in the ER.

If you've been out of school for five years, your professors are unlikely to remember you lot.  It seems pointless to ask for those messages, since not merely would those letters be average at best, but you lot're a completely unlike person.Surely medical schools will cutting yous some slack, aye?

- Robert One thousand.

Answer:

Not really.  If you've been out of the classroom for five years, medical schools want y'all to go back to school and take classes (this is good communication for anyone who hasn't taken a science course in three years or more).  It doesn't matter where you lot take these classes equally long as they are in-person, and these courses are the perfect opportunity to ask for an additional science letter.

And retrieve, if you tin can't go back and get two letters of rec, see the words of wisdom at the top of this post: become the best set up of letters yous can.

- Rob Humbracht  - Medical School Admissions Counselor

ISN'T It Mutual TO SEND THE SAME Letter OF REC TO MULTIPLE SCHOOLS USING INTERFOLIO?

Question:

Hello, under your link "How to Write Your Ain Letter of Recommendation", yous say to be specific regarding who it is. Isn't it common to have the same alphabetic character transport to 10+ schools using Interfolio? Even if it wasn't, wouldn't it be hard to ask your recommender to write a different letter of the alphabet for each school?

- plantat3q via Reddit

Respond:

Expert catch!  That detail applies to most graduate school application processes, simply not to medical schoolhouse.  Although information technology's technically possible to upload messages aimed at specific schools, a) it's rare, and b) schools definitely don't expect it.  As a result, it's not recommended.  We've updated the original web log post to correct it.

- Rob Humbracht  - Medical Schoolhouse Admissions Advisor

ARE Yous INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEER Work FROM HIGH Schoolhouse?

Question:

Are you interested in volunteer work from high school? I ask because I've been volunteering since I was 13 and was curious whether or non that would fit in an application

- mathnerdm via Reddit

Answer:

The style I accept e'er looked at experiences from loftier school is that they set the tendency for the activities you've pursued more than recently.  In other words, if y'all've been volunteering since y'all're 13, it shows that you lot have consistently embodied the spirit of giving back that med schools are looking for.

- Rob Humbracht  - Medical School Admissions Advisor

WHAT Blazon OF CLINICAL VOLUNTEERING STANDS OUT THE MOST TO YOU?

Question:

What type of clinical volunteering stands out the well-nigh to you? (ie. volunteering in an ER, shadowing GP, etc...)

- mathnerdm via Reddit

Reply:

As for the best clinical volunteering, I would argue that no one type is the best.  Y'all need to constitute two things near your application: a) you know what doctors really do (either past shadowing different doctors or by working with them in a medical context), and b) you are able to connect with people from a unlike background.  Many types of clinical volunteering can show these traits, so yous're looking for experiences that give you easily-on experience and memorable stories to tell!

- Rob Humbracht  - Medical School Admissions Advisor

HOW DO YOU Meet UNCONVENTIONAL Letters OF REC?

Question:

I am a RN applying for med school this app wheel. How practise you see unconventional letters of rec? I have a patient that is a PA/NP that I accept had the pleasure of caring for for the last 2 years and feel that she can actually attest to my dedication to medicine and my character. However, I'thou not likewise sure if I should make the hazard. Thank you!

- ayeeff via Reddit

Answer:

I'k non sure I see how information technology's a gamble. If you provide the letter of the alphabet, the schools can simply condone information technology. I recall information technology sounds similar the letter author knows you well and can provide context about the kind of care provider y'all would exist. The but caveat would be in the residual of your application to make a critical distinction behind why you want to undergo all of the stress and debt to become a doctor instead of pursuing the path already available to you.

- Rob Humbracht  - Medical School Admissions Advisor

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Source: https://www.savvypremed.com/blog/every-question-you-have-about-letters-of-recommendation-for-medical-school-1

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