Thank you, that’s helpful to know.
Every med school has a list of requirements for what LOEs they want. Most ask for LOE from 2 BCPM professors who have taught the student in a class and 1 non-science professor who has taught the student in a class. A few specifically ask for a clinical supervisor who is a healthcare professional.
Most med schools have strict limits on the number of LOEs they will accept to support an application because they simply do not have the time and personnel to read an unlimited number of letters. (Multiple 5 or 6 by 8,000 or 15,000 or 25,000 applications and I think you’ll understand why…)
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Got it, thanks!
And I guess I should mention it here for those going thru the process for the first time—the most common outcome to submitting a completed application to med school is -------
complete silence.
No rejection, but no invitation to interview either.
This is partly a CYA action on the part of the schools in case the number of students accepting admission offers is insufficient to fill the available seats, or in case a applicant (say the scion one of the school’s big donors) needs to receive some sort of “special consideration” by the Dean of Admissions. It’s hard/embarrassing/impossible to turn around and interview someone who has already been rejected.
But generally speaking, silence = rejection for med school admissions.
There’s even a term for it–silent rejection.
Oftentimes, students will never get an official rejection from a med school or the official rejection won’t come until October after the class has already been seated for months. (October because med schools have to purge all the older applications from their admissions system before they can offer official admissions for the next cycle.)
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Re: LOE. Clearly these shouldn’t come from volunteer supervisors.
In addition to letters from those faculty who have had you in a class, DO schools require a LOR from a practicing physician with whom the student has a significant relationship. A DO is preferred, but MD is allowed by some.
DO applicants usually shadow DOs…one way to develop this. An applicant could also work as a medical assistant or something like that…for a doctor.