letter of rec info 101
Anna FAQ #2: How to BOSS your Letters of Rec. (adapted from a question I answered in my first post)
So, how do you make sure your letters of rec are the strongest they can be for you? What goes in a good letter of rec?
WELL, FRET NOT, I'M HERE TO HELP!
As for the structure of the letter and general things to go in it, I really can't outline it better than AAMC, so here is the fateful doc you should always send to your letter writers:https://www.aamc.org/download/332578/data/lettersguidelinesbrochure.pdf
In addition to that document, most letter writers will want a copy of your resume, personal statement, and sometimes even transcript. While all those things are good, they don't really speak much about WHO you are, and at the end of the day, the med schools get that information anyway.
Make sure you choose letter writers who actually know YOU and won't just write platitudes. It's always best if you can sit down with your writer and have them get a better sense of you and what you'd like to achieve. People tend to like to have direction and as long as you're not dictating to them what they NEED TO WRITE, people are generally open to discussion.
To make sure your letters REALLY shine (after you've chosen good letter writers whom you have fostered relationships with) sit down and really think of how/what you've shown in the time with them. You don't want banal platitudes, you want concrete examples.
When talking to your letter writer, highlight what you think are your personal positive attributes that they could talk about. Also, make sure those attributes make sense in the context of your relationship and that it can be supported by what they've done with you. Obviously, they're gonna have to state in the letters of rec why/how they know you. Take a look at that document I told you to send above. They have qualities med schools want the letter writers to talk about - look at those qualities, come up with concrete ways the letter writer can state something about those for your cause. This is helpful for for your letter writer and even better for you, since you can try to make sure your letter writers hit all aspects of you and provide the adcoms a well-rounded picture of you!
For me, I was a music/IB double major. I had one of my music professors write me a letter for me (since it's good to get a major letter obvs). Basically we decided that he would be able to talk about my critical thinking abilities, my written communication skills, my social skills, my oral communications skills, my reliability and dependability, my resilience and adaptability, and my capacity for improvement. We talked about my strengths in these areas, which gave him the content to really write a good letter. On the other hand, I also had science professors write me letters, and they were able to write about other aspects, like scientific inquiry, quantitative reasoning.
It's gotten a bit wordy, but hopefully this helps Most important of all is to make sure you've cultivated relationships in a variety of settings/ways, so that your letter writers can provide a more holistic picture of you at the end of the day. For me, that meant that I had a letter from the founder of the volunteer organization I was a berkeley director for, a letter from my boss of 3 years, two letters from IB profs, a letter from a music prof.
more fun tip and shameless plug: I can't say much about MCB profs, but for IB, go for the upper div profs, they generally are easier to get to know better. I was freaking out Junior year when I realized I didn't really have close enough of a relationship to get a good letter from any of the IB profs, so I reached out and started cultivating and worked it out senior year. Hayes is a great guy, and if you can take Endo, it was a great class since he really makes you think about why and how a body's systems interact rather than just have you regurgitate stuff out. He teaches the class knowing most are premed and he wants to make sure you're a critically thinking doctor. Also, he's really easy to get to know and a warm guy. Just make sure you ask for letters early haha since he's a busy guy. I thought about getting a letter from Carlson since I took two classes from him and tried to foster a relationship, but at the end of the day he was just hard for me to connect to. He's a nice and smart guy, but really really busy. I had a friend who connected well with him by going to EVERY ONE of his office hours and pretty much trading lecture for office hours. Maybe that'll work for you! hehe
So, how do you make sure your letters of rec are the strongest they can be for you? What goes in a good letter of rec?
WELL, FRET NOT, I'M HERE TO HELP!
As for the structure of the letter and general things to go in it, I really can't outline it better than AAMC, so here is the fateful doc you should always send to your letter writers:https://www.aamc.org/download/332578/data/lettersguidelinesbrochure.pdf
In addition to that document, most letter writers will want a copy of your resume, personal statement, and sometimes even transcript. While all those things are good, they don't really speak much about WHO you are, and at the end of the day, the med schools get that information anyway.
Make sure you choose letter writers who actually know YOU and won't just write platitudes. It's always best if you can sit down with your writer and have them get a better sense of you and what you'd like to achieve. People tend to like to have direction and as long as you're not dictating to them what they NEED TO WRITE, people are generally open to discussion.
To make sure your letters REALLY shine (after you've chosen good letter writers whom you have fostered relationships with) sit down and really think of how/what you've shown in the time with them. You don't want banal platitudes, you want concrete examples.
When talking to your letter writer, highlight what you think are your personal positive attributes that they could talk about. Also, make sure those attributes make sense in the context of your relationship and that it can be supported by what they've done with you. Obviously, they're gonna have to state in the letters of rec why/how they know you. Take a look at that document I told you to send above. They have qualities med schools want the letter writers to talk about - look at those qualities, come up with concrete ways the letter writer can state something about those for your cause. This is helpful for for your letter writer and even better for you, since you can try to make sure your letter writers hit all aspects of you and provide the adcoms a well-rounded picture of you!
For me, I was a music/IB double major. I had one of my music professors write me a letter for me (since it's good to get a major letter obvs). Basically we decided that he would be able to talk about my critical thinking abilities, my written communication skills, my social skills, my oral communications skills, my reliability and dependability, my resilience and adaptability, and my capacity for improvement. We talked about my strengths in these areas, which gave him the content to really write a good letter. On the other hand, I also had science professors write me letters, and they were able to write about other aspects, like scientific inquiry, quantitative reasoning.
It's gotten a bit wordy, but hopefully this helps Most important of all is to make sure you've cultivated relationships in a variety of settings/ways, so that your letter writers can provide a more holistic picture of you at the end of the day. For me, that meant that I had a letter from the founder of the volunteer organization I was a berkeley director for, a letter from my boss of 3 years, two letters from IB profs, a letter from a music prof.
more fun tip and shameless plug: I can't say much about MCB profs, but for IB, go for the upper div profs, they generally are easier to get to know better. I was freaking out Junior year when I realized I didn't really have close enough of a relationship to get a good letter from any of the IB profs, so I reached out and started cultivating and worked it out senior year. Hayes is a great guy, and if you can take Endo, it was a great class since he really makes you think about why and how a body's systems interact rather than just have you regurgitate stuff out. He teaches the class knowing most are premed and he wants to make sure you're a critically thinking doctor. Also, he's really easy to get to know and a warm guy. Just make sure you ask for letters early haha since he's a busy guy. I thought about getting a letter from Carlson since I took two classes from him and tried to foster a relationship, but at the end of the day he was just hard for me to connect to. He's a nice and smart guy, but really really busy. I had a friend who connected well with him by going to EVERY ONE of his office hours and pretty much trading lecture for office hours. Maybe that'll work for you! hehe