Rewind: Letters of recommendation

On December 17th, I blogged about what non-traditional students can do to obtain letters of recommendation. This is such an important topic that I decided to revisit it again. You don’t want a lack of letters of recommendation to hold up your application to medical school. I get I t, approaching professors can be scary. My organic chemistry II undergraduate professor from Arizona State University told us on the first day of class that 1) Only 5% of the class was going to earn an A and 2) He only write letters of recommendation for students in the top 20% of the class. Those statements just contributed to the already cutthroat pre-med environment that could be found at ASU and in that class.

So first, how do you go about getting to know a professor so that I can get a letter of recommendation? First, I would create a list of four to six faculty and/or people that you shadow or those who supervise your work. These people should be people that know you and your work well. You need STRONG letters of rec, not a recommendation that simply says, “So and so came to class every day and earned an A.” Make sure that you do not as family, friends, or clergy to write a letter for you; these letters may be seen as biased.

Talk to each individual directly about writing a letter for you. When I request a letter, I always give the recommender a copy of my personal statement, CV, description of the program that I am applying to, instructions regarding the letter, a deadline for when the letter needs to be completed by, and a self-addressed stamped envelope (or an Interfolio link if the letter is to be electronic). I offer them a chance to speak with me so that they can find out more about my desire to apply to whatever program it is that I am asking them to write the letter for. Now that classes have moved online dure to COVID-19, you will have to make these requests over e-mail, and you may have to meet with your professor over Zoom for the interview.

Make sure that you have actually gotten to know the person that you are asking to write your letter. As a professor, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had students who I don’t know, come and ask for a letter of recommendation. Essentially, all I can say about these students is that they were in my class and earned such and such a grade. Take time to get to know your professor. I get it. Now because of COVID, everything is online. Still not an excuse. My entire MPH and most of my PhD has been online and I have gotten to know some of my faculty so well that one sent my wife and I some artwork, I’ve met others for a local Flagstaff, AZ pub crawl, and I’ve had some faculty who I’ve met for lunch and dinner. It just takes you emailing or going to Zoom office hours and showing a genuine interest in getting to know your professors. We are people too and most of us really do like our students.

Etiquette people! Send a thank you letter or email to those who wrote a letter on your behalf!!!

One of my major pet peeves is a student asking for a letter literally a day or a week before they need it. Personally speaking, I am mentoring probably 15-20 pre-meds, graduate MPH students, and DMD/MPH students. All of my mentees need something so to be fair, I deal with requests in the order that they are received. If you need a letter, give me at least seven to 14 days leeway. It takes time to craft a good letter as I try to write individual, tailored letters for each of my mentees.

Don’t wait till you are applying to medical school to request letters. That is too late. Ideally you want to start to develop relationships with faculty starting in your freshman and sophomore year. In your junior year, you can start asking for letters as many medical schools will allow you to submit letters that are up to two years old.

You should aim to get, at a minimum, two science letters of recommendation, one non-science letter, and a physician letter. If you can also obtain a letter from someone who supervised you in an employment or volunteer capacity, that would be great as well. The caveat here is that you need to pay attention to directions. Some schools will have very specific instructions regarding what they want in terms of the letters of recommendation. Make sure that you give the schools what they ask for.