Letters of recommendation are an often under-appreciated aspect of the application process—by both pre-meds and medical students alike. Strong letters have the potential to significantly strengthen an application and account for weaknesses. On the other hand, weak letters can ruin an applicant’s chances who is otherwise stellar on paper. This post will cover how to ask for medical school letters of recommendation, including when to ask, requesting strategies, and what important instructions and materials you should provide.
When you’re done here, read our detailed Medical School Letters of Recommendation Guide.
In deciding who to ask, there is a balance of name recognition versus how well they know you. Some letters you may want cosigned. If you worked closely with a TA or PhD student, you can have them write a more intimate letter and have the PI/faculty edit, add touches, and cosign the letter.
Generally, 4-5 letters total is what you need; 2 letters from science professors, and 1 from a non-science professor.
Your letter writers are likely extremely busy and may have multiple students requesting LORs. You should give them plenty of time to write and submit their letter. We recommend about 2-3 months. If you are taking a course long before you apply, ask soon after the course is complete. If you wait several months or a couple of years, they will forget you.
Be sure to include a due date when you send them more details, and send out an additional reminder 2 weeks before the due date.
You can ask either in person (if you see them regularly) or send them a clear email that includes what you are asking them to do. If you approach your ask via email, use our downloadable email template to get started.
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Your letter writer should know you well enough to not write a generic letter about you. It should be personal and specifically highlight your strengths. This isn’t a problem for research mentors or physicians you shadow, but it can be more difficult to build a relationship with professors.
We highly recommend going to office hours. You ideally want to have one-on-one face time with the professor, but this rarely happens naturally. Some suggest going to smaller upper level courses, but this does not always hold true.
From my experience, it seems to depend more on whether the professor is likeable or not. Don’t judge a book by its cover though; one of my best letters came from a professor who had a nasty reputation. However, she was very pleasant during office hours.
Do not suck up and do not ask questions that you already know the answer to. People who do this crash and burn since it comes off as insincere. If you know the material, you should be able to have intelligent discussions about the subject beyond the scope of the course; otherwise, you can tie it in with what you learned in other courses.
It should go without saying that if you are aiming for a letter of recommendation, try extra hard in that class. Even if you normally get A’s, strive to set the curve if you can.
Ask letter writers if they are willing to write a strong letter of recommendation. Starting out asking for a strong letter will weed out any bland recommendations. You do not want a generic letter.
If a potential letter writer says no, move on right away. If you have to do a lot of convincing to get a writer to agree, they may have a good reason not to write the letter. They might not have the time or they may not have good things to say about you.
Look elsewhere if there’s any hesitation or they say, “I don’t know you well enough to write you a strong letter.” You should specify right off the bat that you are looking for a strong letter to ensure you don’t end up with a generic or mediocre recommendation.
If you are concerned about weak areas on your application, you can discuss this with your letter writer. However, reserve this for mentors you are close with. Mentors that know you very well and who want to help you may be able to spin your concerns in a positive light.
It’s important that you make this as smooth of a process as possible for your letter writers. Provide them with everything they need to effectively write and submit your letter.
Letter writers need to submit through the AMCAS Letter Service for allopathic medical schools or through a submission service such as Interfolio if you are applying through multiple services like AACOMAS or TMDSAS.
1 | Submission instructions — Include instructions on how the writer will need to submit as well as your AAMC ID and their own personal Letter ID. Your letter writer will need to submit directly to the service (and not back to you), and the clearer you bake the process, the simpler it will be for them.
2 | A printed physical copy — Even though the process takes place online, your letter writer may prefer to review your materials in a physical form. Ask if they would like you to send a physical copy of all of your materials for them to review.
3 | CV — This should be a comprehensive, professional, and organized summary of your academic, work, and extracurricular achievements to date. Our advising services can help you craft a standout CV.
4 | Academic transcript
5 | Personal statement — (if available) Ideally, you will have at least a draft completed at the time of letter request, but this is not always true if you ask for academic letters earlier in your undergrad career. If a personal statement isn’t available, write a brief summary of the reasons you are pursuing medicine and what makes you a unique and qualified candidate.
6 | Submission deadline — Provide an ideal deadline in writing, either with your email correspondence or printed with the materials you provide to your letter writer. Make sure this deadline is at least a week in advance of when you need to actually submit. You should give letter writers 6-8 weeks to complete your letter after being provided the necessary materials. This means you need to start the process at least 2-3 months before you require your letters.
Med School Insiders will help you obtain strong letters of recommendation to maximize your chance of acceptance to your dream school. Talk to our dedicated team of doctors through one-on-one advising. Our team has years of experience serving on admissions committees, so you’ll receive key insights from people who have been intimately involved in the selection process.
