When you apply for medical school, you’ll find that each school has its own letter of recommendation requirements.
In general, most schools are happy if you’re able to submit letters from two science professors and one non-science professor. This is not true for all schools, so you should research the letter of recommendation requirements for each school before applying.
Schools may also encourage letters from principal investigators, doctors, and people you’ve worked for during volunteering or work experiences.
I’ll cover the different types of letters that I’ve seen schools ask for below.
The Science Letter of Recommendation
Most schools require two of these. In general, a letter from a professor who teaches a course related to biology, chemistry, or physics applies.
I think it’s pretty reasonable why medical schools would want letters from these types of professors. Diagnosing patients accurately and understanding the underlying causes of diseases requires medical students to be good at and enjoy science. These professors can really speak to this.
Check out this med school letter of recommendation template if you’re curious about what science professors write about.
The Non-Science Med School Letter of Recommendation
A decent amount of schools I applied to required one of these. Any professor who taught English, history, sociology, anthropology, or another non-science course should apply.
Why is this letter important? Medical schools also want insights into your ability to communicate. Speaking and writing well are also important parts of being a doctor.
Explaining to someone why they’re sick, what’s happening with their body, and persuading them to take the proper course of action is often harder than diagnosing them correctly.
Obviously, they’ll have plenty of your writing to go off of from your personal statement and secondary essays, but having an authoritative person speak to this quality is way more assuring.
Physician Letters of Recommendation
Rarely will you be required to provide a letter of recommendation from a physician, but most schools will accept a letter from a doctor you’ve shadowed or volunteered for.
Mercer is one school I can think of that falls outside this category, as they recommend that one letter comes from a physician or health care professional.
Doctors probably have a really good idea of whether an applicant will succeed or not in the medical field because, well, they work there every single day.
They’re also very well respected and their words will carry weight with members on admissions committees.
PI Letters of Recommendation
I have yet to see an MD program that requires a letter from a PI or research supervisor. In fact, many applicants never conduct any sort of research period.
Regardless, many schools accept letters from PIs. If you did do some sort of research, it’s probably a good idea to ask your PI for a letter if you think it will depict you in a positive light.
Character Reference Letters
Many schools will probably expect professors, doctors, PIs, and others to comment on your character during their letter. However, most schools won’t specifically ask for a letter that is solely a character reference.
However, this is not always true. For example, UCF accepts two character letters which can be from a friend, neighbor, clergy member, volunteering experience, etc.
If the school you’re applying to does ask for a character letter, they’re probably looking to see if you’re ethical, well-rounded, passionate, likable, respectful, mature, etc.
Letters from Teaching Assistants
For whatever reason, most medical schools won’t allow a letter from a teaching assistant to count as one of your core letters. I specifically remember being bummed out about this when I applied because the TAs knew me a lot better than the professors did.
You can probably submit a letter from a TA in addition to other letters that fulfill the requirements for the school. However, note that letters from teaching assistants are apparently seen as ‘weaker’ than letters from professors.
Letters from Volunteering/Work Experiences
If you’ve had any volunteering or work experiences, many schools will also accept a letter from someone who managed or supervised you. This letter could probably serve as a character reference as well as validation that you actually participated in this activity.
Furthermore, your letter writer could explain how the skills you picked up on the job will help you as a physician.
More Information
Make sure to read the letter of recommendation requirements for each school you’re applying to prior to submitting your primary application. This way, you won’t waste money and time applying to a school which requires letter types that you don’t have.
For example, when I applied to Thomas Jefferson University, I didn’t know the school preferred one of my letters be from a physics professor. Some schools have strange requirements, and the only way to know is to look them up.