<p>I understand that some schools ask for a rec letter from the pre-med committee, while others specifically ask for a number of rec letters from science professors and any other recommender, was it?</p>
<p>At any rate, when they say science professors, are they specifically asking for letters from the professors who taught the basic pre-med req sciences? Would it be appropriate to get a letter from a professor I've had from a higher level biology course like immunobiology or endocrinology, or perhaps, a professor I've done research with in the molecular biology department?</p>
<p>And for those of you who've already successfully completed the process, how well did you actually know the professors?</p>
<p>They generally prefer instructors (it doesn't matter from upper level or intro courses). Some schools will accept research supervisors' LOR as a science rec but not all schools.</p>
<p>But (as far as I know) it's ALWAYS okay to substitute a professor from a higher-level science class instead of one of the professors who taught you a pre-med requirement.</p>
<p>My recommenders knew me to varying degrees, but I had a pre-med committee. My letters were submitted to the committee and then included along with a committee letter (which almost always trumps the recommendation requests of individual medical schools), and so I could bend the rules a little bit. I did have my research advisor write for me.</p>
<p>How do you know if the school accepts a letter from a research PI as your science letter? For all the schools that I checked, the websites merely state that you must have two letters from people on science faculty - which sounds like it includes research as long as the PI is on science faculty at the school.</p>
<p>I think that it's difficult to miss if they specifically want instructors. Usually they'll say things like "submit three letters of recommendation from faculty members who have taught you..." or something like that.</p>
<p>so do people usually go to office hours in order to get to know their instructors better? Going to office hours is not something I usually do, and I've been doing fine with this strategy so far... should I change?</p>
<p>I ended up only asking professors of small classes -- biology lab (class size 12), chemistry seminar (12), medical economics (15). Plus my PI and my advisor.</p>
<p>My two science professors differed dramatically. One was my intro bio professor (400+ class) whom I knew pretty well from visiting during his office hours and during meetings. The other was my intro physics professor whom I barely knew. However, I loved physics and did extremely well in his class. He was glad to write me a rec after I met with him and discussed my future plans with medicine. My others were from a professor in a non-science discipline and my premedical advisor. Professors generally write many recommendation letters for different things (medicine, law, PA etc.). Most are happy to do it if you make an effort to get to know them personally.</p>