Letters of recommendation are one of the many parts of applying to medical school as well as many other graduate schools. If you are anything like me, you feel completely intimidated by asking a professor or physician to do something for you.
I just asked my letter writers to write me a letter and I survived! It wasn’t even as bad as I thought.
So to help others like me, here is your complete guide to letters of recommendation.
The First Step
Before you think specifically about who your letter writers are going to be, you should look at what letters are required for the schools you want to apply to.
I made an Excel spreadsheet my freshman year of college and included required classes, average GPA and MCAT, costs, what application service they use, traits they look for and who they want letters of recommendation from.
Most of the time, you need at least one science professor, most of the time two, and at least one physician. Many schools also say that you can submit more letters after the required ones are met. This is a way you can boost your application if it is lacking in some aspects!
Compile Your List
After you have a general list of who your letter writers need to be, it’s time to make your list of specific people.
Some schools want a premed committee letter so if that is the case, you don’t need a specific list of people! My college does not have a premed committee so I cannot speak directly on going about a committee letter.
When you are thinking of your letter writers, think of professors you had a connection with, went to a lot of office hours with or did particularly well in their classes.
I specifically took multiple classes with two of my favorite professors so they would have lots of experiences with me to draw from for the letter.
My list of people ended up being two of my biology professors {one of them is also my premed advisor}, one of my favorite political science professors, a general surgeon I shadowed and a family friend as an extra, supplemental letter.
Requesting Letters
If possible, ask your letter writers in person if they could write you a letter of recommendation. This was the scariest part for me but really all you have to say is “I was wondering if you would be able to write me a strong letter of recommendation for medical school?” or whatever graduate school you are applying for.
I think it is important to include “strong” in your question because you want good letters, they are a huge part of the application. It also gives the writer a chance to decline if they think they do not know you well enough to write a strong letter.
Interfolio
Next, you have to set up a place for your letter writers to confidentially submit their letters. I used Interfolio which is a common website for letters of recommendation.
From there, I separately requested letters from the people I previously asked to write a letter.
Go to “letters” and then “request a letter” and Interfolio pre-writes an email that will be sent to your writers with a link for submitting.
What To Include In The Email
Although you cannot write your own letters of recommendation {wouldn’t that be nice?!} you can guide your letter writers and tell them what you want medical schools to know about you.
For each letter writer, I made a bulleted list with points that they could include in the letter. Some of the things I wrote were what classes I took with them and the grades I received, positive comments they wrote on my assignments, my near perfect attendance and that I asked thoughtful questions.
Along with the bulleted list, I included the AAMC letter writing guidelines, my resume and my transcripts.
If you are applying to a different graduate school, check to see if they have a similar letter writing guideline document for your writers to use!
Following Up
I gave my letter writers a deadline of June 1st which is the day after the AAMC applications can be submitted. In March/April, I will follow up with the writers to check progress and see if they have any questions.
When you receive the letters on Interfolio, make sure to send thank you messages to your writers! These are the people who will be telling the admissions committee that you will make a good medical student, they are important!
Letters of recommendation can be intimidating at first especially since it seems that it is the one part of your application that you don’t have much control over. Going about letters of recommendation this way gives you the most control over them as possible and ensures you have strong letters.
Is anyone else going through the process of getting letters of recommendation? Leave a comment below or DM me on my Instagram, @medicineandmoscato and hit the button below to share with your premed friends!
