How many letters of rec. should we request for med. school admissions and who should we ask for them?

Answer 1

You want a bare minimum of three:

2 science professors (not PIs)
1 non-science professor

At least one should be from a professor in your major (so if you majored in Biology, one of your science letters should be from a biology professor; if you majored in Sociology, your non-science letter should be from a sociology professor). Note that letters from people you did independent study labs don't count here. You need professors who actually taught you in a science class.

In addition, you'll want at least one more of the following for a strong application. Don't do more than 6 letters total per school.

Volunteering supervisor (if you did something super)
Work supervisor (especially if you've been out of school)
Research PI
Physician (If you're applying DO, you'll need one from a DO)

Do not do something just to get a LOR. If you did extensive work at something, you could consider getting a letter from your supervisor (or someone above you). But you do not absolutely need the above, except in special circumstances (you're applying DO, MD/PhD, or you've been out of school). So find which of the above letters would be the strongest and include that to show something other than your academic side.

Answer 2

If your school has a pre-medical committee, most schools require a composite letter from them. Most applicants have this and a couple of other letters, perhaps from professor or a physician they have shadowed. However, I have been accepted to two medical schools so far, and I only turned in my pre-med committee letter. I would advise someone to get additional letters, though, just to be safe.

Comments

Most adcoms don't read (or at least don't put any weight on) letters from physicians that you've shadowed. This is something I've been told by nearly everyone I've spoken to on an admissions committee. So, that's not to say you shouldn't include it. Just know that it won't carry much weight. Shadowing translates to not actually doing anything but watching the physician. If you do more than that, then it's not shadowing and by God do not label it as such.

Answer 3

I agree with everything mvenus929 has said andI would like to expand on his/her answer just a little bit.  First to re-iterate, you must have at least 3 letters; 2 science and 1 non-science.  They should be from professors who taught you in class and one should be from your major.   You can certainly add a few more, but no more than 6.  Anything over 6 begins to look desperate.   

One thing to keep in mind when choosing additional letters is that there should not appear to be any large holes or gaps in the letters you are including with your application.  What I mean is, you should try to include letters from all your major extracurricular activities.  For instance, if you did a lot of research, make sure to include a letter from your PI.  If you devoted a lot of time to a particular volunteer activity, have a letter from a supervisor there.  You don’t want to leave an AdComm member wondering why a particular letter is missing.  The final thing I would like to add is to make sure that you know your letter writers reasonable well.  You hear this all the time, but it is absolutely true.  A bland uninspiring LOR reflects poorly on you whereas a very positive LOR full of specifics and anecdotes can do wonders for your application.  The best way to achieve this is to decide whom you may want to ask for a letter ahead of time (for professors that means at the beginning of the semester) and cultivate a relationship with this individual well before asking for the LOR.  In the case of a professor, go to office hours regularly and do not hesitate to ask for individual meetings.  Usually, professors are more than happy to meet with motivated students and they will be impressed with your enthusiasm and this will certainly be evident in their LOR

Answer 4

6 total should do it:
2 science professors
1 non-science professor
1 physician
1 for volunteer work
1 for research

make them good letters though, don't have someone write them just to get the numbers.

Comments

Aiming for 6 is overkill.  You can have UP TO 6 but this is by no means required.  2 science, 1 non-science, and then anybody else who you feel would write a strong letter is sufficient.