Letters of Recommendation

When you apply to medical school, you must submit letters of recommendation from your professors, employers, and/or advisors. If the person writing your letter of rec asks you what to write, be ready with an informed response. Follow these steps to ensure good letters of recommendation that make your medical school application stand out.

1 Give your letter writers at least four weeks to write and send the letter of recommendation. Remember, your professors and premed advisors have many students to write letters for. To increase your chances of a good letter, be the first to ask for one.

2 Tell your letter writer that you would appreciate a one to two page letter of recommendation for medical school. To help them fill in content, provide them with your resume (or CV), GPA, and personal statement for medical school. These will inform your letter writer of your commitment to a career as a doctor and your personal motivation for entering the field of medicine.

3 Write a list of three to five experiences you want your letter writer to include in the letter of recommendation. Choose wisely and appropriately, and do not write the same experiences for all of your writers. There can be some overlap, but you don't want every letter to sound the same. For a professor, be sure to include academics. Other good choices are clinical experience, volunteering, leadership, teaching, and community service.

4 On your list, expound on each experience as if you were writing a recommendation yourself. Do not copy and paste from list to list. Each time you write about an experience, make it unique. The content can be the same, but the wording must be different. For example, for one letter writer, you may write,

'Academics: I am a strong student who enjoys learning so
that I may use the knowledge for my future in medicine and
in life in general. As a result, I take my studies
seriously and excel by virtue of desire, not competition.'

For another letter writer, you may write,

'Academics: As a student, I strive to gain as much
knowledge as possible from teachers, classmates, books,
and assignments. My success in my studies is motivated
by the belief that knowledge will be my most powerful
tool as a future doctor.'

Be detailed and specific when writing about these experiences. They should fill up one or two pages.

5 Ask your letter writer to include any personal experiences that you shared with him/her that shows your strong character, altruism, and potential to be a compassionate physician. The strongest letters of recommendation are the ones that use highly detailed descriptions of the applicant's personality and the positive experiences the letter writer shared with the applicant.

6 Give each of your letter writers a stamp and a pre-addressed envelope for the letter service you are using. Do not affix the stamp to the envelope in case your letter writer chooses to use his/her own stationary.

7 Request that your letter writer keep a copy of the letter. Often, letter services do not receive the letters of recommendation in the mail. When this happens, you are responsible for getting your letter writer to reprint and resend the letter.

8 Once they have written and sent the letter, give your letter writers a thank you card and/or small gift. You should always thank those who help you on the road to your future career as a physician.