eSignature Medical School Letter of Recommendation Made Easy

E signature medical school letter of recommendation

what's up guys this is think med school in this video i'm going to show you how to obtain great letters of recommendation to further strengthen your already beastly medical school application and increase your chances of acceptance let's do it letters of recommendation are an important piece of your medical school application that are often overlooked by students letters of recommendation are valuable to admissions committees as they allow the admissions committee to hear other people's perspectives on your qualities and your talents that would make you an excellent health care provider in the future and also show that you're a good person the main objective here is to obtain strong letters of recommendation to further strengthen your application and also support you as a candidate for their medical school first up how many letters are sufficient the requirements may vary from school to school but the minimum requirement is having two letters of recommendation from science professors or a panel letter and one from a non-science professor a good number to aim for is four strong letters of recommendation this is not a hard or fast rule but it is the general consensus it is good to note that committee letters hit the minimum requirements that were listed earlier so long as you have two science professors and one non-science professor sign it then at this point all you need is two other letters from other areas to round out the field it's good to have some variety in your letters of recommendation if you did research get one from your pi if you volunteered in the community get a letter from your supervisor if you shadowed a physician get one from them too next up who should you ask it is very important that you approach this strategically the focus should be forming positive lengthy relationships with potential letter writers this will increase the likelihood of them being able to write you a strong letter of recommendation in the future so this means you should be forming relationships with your research pis community service leaderships and with your professors to the best of your abilities it is much easier for individuals to write a strong letter of recommendation for people that they know very well in my case i had formed lengthy relationships with each of my letter writers that were all greater than a year long i still talked to a few of my letter writers to this very day and have gotten dinner with each of them over the past few years so how do you ask someone for a letter of recommendation pre-pandemic the best way to go about this was to ask them in person if you can swing it in a socially distanced fashion then go for it during the pandemic it is acceptable to do this through zoom email or phone if possible though aim for the platform that will allow you to physically see each other be kind and be sure to ask would you feel comfortable writing me a strong letter of recommendation notice the emphasis on the word strong this is a common mistake but often pre-meds will just ask for a letter of recommendation without mention of that six-letter word it is important to let them know that you would like a strong letter for your medical school application be sure to watch their reaction when you ask them this if the person you ask hesitates then this is a red flag figuratively walk away and pursue another avenue for a letter of recommendation there is no sense in putting your medical school acceptance chances on the line here regarding asking via email this is a bit more risky i'd err on the side of caution and use email as a means to set up a virtual meeting next up when to ask for classes that are being completed well before the amcas submission date ask for the letter after you complete the course for classes completed near the amcast submission date feel free to ask for the letters two to three months prior to the amcas deadline be sure to give the letter writer ample time to write the letter give them a good six to eight weeks doing this allows the letter writer to have plenty of time and not feel pressured to write it do not nag or bother the letter writer in the interim hounding the letter writer is never really a good look that being said if they have not gotten back to you and is nearing the amcas deadline shoot them a polite reminder email about three weeks out from the deadline when they agree to write your letter there are a handful of materials that you should provide them remember it's important to make this as easy as possible for the letter writer as they have busy lives so to make this process as seamless as possible send them an email with a packet of information this package should include at the very least your resume or cv and a copy of your personal statement draft it doesn't hurt to have a few sentences written out in the email of some brief thoughts on particular qualities that you have what you are proud of or passionate about or your past interactions with the letter writer another consideration is emailing them an attachment of a guide to writing medical school letters which i will link in the description below with a reminder that the letter needs to be signed on official letterhead and also letter submission instructions for whatever platform you will be using to store your letters of recommendation next up we have variety of your letters of recommendation variety is the spice of life it is important for the admissions committee to not only know how you perform academically but it's also important to exemplify the type of person you are outside of the academic arena if you solely have professors for all of your letters of recommendation then you'll basically have three or four of the exact same letter the applicant performed extraordinarily in my class applicant works very hard academically but what about the other aspects of you as a person outside of academia were you in a volunteer position where you were able to demonstrate strong leadership skills did you hold a research position where you demonstrated strong critical thinking problem solving skills did you involve yourself in an activity where you showed your humanistic slash empathetic side often get letters from people that were in those activities and can accurately write about all of those different sides of you this will give admissions committees a more complete picture of who you are as an applicant as well as a person my letters of recommendation consisted of a committee letter which hit the minimum requirement of two science and one non-science professor a letter from my supervisor at the free clinic i spent substantial time volunteering at and holding leadership positions and one with a doctor that i shadowed for a lengthy period of time i felt that each of these areas were able to speak to a variety of different traits such as leadership academic strength empathy etc it allowed me to paint a more complete picture of who i was finally wave your right to view your letters of recommendation in amcas if you do not wave your right to view the letters of recommendation medical schools may see these letters as letters that carry very little weight the point here is that you should only be obtaining letters from individuals you know well that way there should be no worry about what they may write about you and that's it guys i know this whole med school application process can be daunting but you can do it you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and believe in yourself never stop believing in yourself you will make it and i hope this video has given you a good overview on how to obtain strong letters of recommendation comment down below and let me know if this was helpful and share a few tips or ideas that you think should be included feel free to let me know what topics you'd like me to make videos on next and be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you can be the first to catch the next video thanks for tuning in to think med school and remember guys don't ever stop moving forward see you in the next one