Makeup, Lattes, and Medicine

For my own enjoyment, I want to share the knowledge I have collected as a pre-med and as a medical student while also sharing my passion for all my favorite things, like makeup and lattes.

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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Premed Tip #2- Letters of Recommendation Timeline and What to Give Your Recommender

Noel 5:00 PM , , , , No comments :
Hopefully, I am starting this blog early enough to give enough tips and tricks as the application process goes on. I did not take a gap year so getting the materials ready for my application and letters truly started the December of my Junior year of college, but I would really recommend setting up recommenders in between December and March to give people plenty of time to write your letter. I found lining up my letters of recommendation to be the most challenging part of the process.

 First things first, most schools (not all) require 2 science related letters, humanities letter, and an outside letter (ex. from extracurriculars, job, etc). I highly recommend getting your list of schools you are applying to done early (summer before your application year, ex. summer before Junior year if you are not taking a gap year) so you know what requirements you are working with.

 I got letters from my PI from my research, one of my science professors, one of my literature professors, and one from my advisor for one of my clubs. I got all of my materials to give them done in December and asked each person through January to April. Looking back, I wish I set my list of people done earlier as I found it difficult to find the last person to write me a letter. My school also does a committee letter, and you should follow your school's timeline and deadlines for those. I would recommend for committee letter applications to get them done as soon as possible so that you are not left writing the committee application the same time as your primary.

 I gave my recommenders a packet of material that they could use as a reference for my letter. I might have gone overboard, but I figured the more information they had, the better.

 List of Materials:
  • Personal letter thanking them for writing me a letter as well as a statement on why I want to be a doctor and indirectly telling them why I am qualified to attend medical school.
  • A sample of my work from their class
  • My resume
  • My transcript
  • Instructions on how to submit their letter
  • Recommendations on how to write their letter from AMCAS (attached document was from 2016-2017 cycle so check the AMCAS website for most up to date documents)



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