LOR Advice

[centralcal]

Hey everyone, I am new to actually joining this forum but have been reading it for the past year. I have a question regarding one of my LORs. I already have two people who have agreed to write letters for me, my anatomy professor and a doctor who is the supervisor of a college health club I was involved with. For my third letter however I was wanting to ask the doctor that I have been scribing for the past year. The thing is though I think he may be too close to a family friend to be considered a reputable source. His wife is my moms best friend from high school, our houses are three doors down from each other, and is my own primary physician (probably only 2 office visits as him as my dr). I know it probably sounds like a dumb question, but I really have never had much of a relationship with him other than being my doctor and neighbor. Before working for him I can't really say I've had any extensive conversations with him. I would ask for a letter elsewhere but in a clinical setting he would be able to write me the best letter with regards to my work. Thanks for any input!

[GatorChomp]

As long as the doctor is someone who can attest to your capabilities, there should be no issue in pursuing him for a letter of recommendation. He isn't related to you in anyway and his place of residence has no bearing on his ability to write you a letter.

 

Best of luck.

[fishbum]

I agree with Gator...if your relationship is sufficiently distant that he feels ok being your medical provider, then it's probably distant enough to write a LOR.

[Allegro]

Agreed. You may want to discuss with him the content of the letter beforehand however to make sure you are on the same page; if he's going to write something like "I've known so and so as a family friend since they were a small child" because you want the character reference or if you'd prefer he keep it more to your professional qualifications you should probably agree on that beforehand.

[centralcal]

Agreed. You may want to discuss with him the content of the letter beforehand however to make sure you are on the same page; if he's going to write something like "I've known so and so as a family friend since they were a small child" because you want the character reference or if you'd prefer he keep it more to your professional qualifications you should probably agree on that beforehand.

 

 Thank you everyone for your input!

 

@allegro do you believe that schools would look down upon a character reference versus a more professional letter? Especially since some programs specifically state no family friends or personal Dr's.  

[Allegro]

Honestly I think its somewhat of a grey area, but to be safe I'd lean towards professional if it were me. It might be a good question to ask on the "Ask an admissions director" thread on the main pre-pa forum here.