Letters of Recommendation
Question: Does Mason offer pre-health committee letters?
No, Mason does not offer pre-health committee letters and hasn’t for over 10 years. Health professional schools only ask for committee letters if they are available from your school, so you will not be at a disadvantage in the application process without one.
For your application, you should ask for individual letters from faculty, mentors/supervisors, and health professionals you’ve shadowed/worked with.
Who to ask and getting to know them
Just like it takes effort to build a relationship with friends, it takes effort for you to build a relationship with professors.
- Be an active participant in class. Sit in the front row. Ask questions.
- Go to office hours.
- Don’t just go to office hours and ask your professor to reteach you material. Go prepared. Try to figure out the answer on your own first, and go to office hours to clarify specific questions and concepts.
- Get to know your faculty. Ask about professor’s research, ask about their background, or how class material applies to one of your other interests. Ask for advice on your future career goals.
- Try to take the same professor for more than one class.
- Stay in touch. Check in with your professors (either by email or by dropping by their office) after class ends.
Here are some tips for getting to know professors in online classes.
While requirements can vary by health profession and by individual school, in general schools require two letters of recommendation from science faculty and one additional letter (that can be academic or professional). Generally, a science faculty includes any biology, chemistry, or physics course. Some schools will allow other fields including neuroscience, engineering, or kinesiology to count towards the science requirement, but it’s important to check directly with the school.
For the third letter, some schools will require a letter from a healthcare provider in that profession (for example, you might need a letter from a DO doctor you’ve worked or shadowed with to apply to a DO school). Other schools will accept another academic letter (from a non-science faculty), a letter from a mentor/supervisor from an extracurricular experience or job, or a letter from a research P.I.
Some schools might allow or ask for more than three letters. It’s important to check with individual school requirements.
It might seem intimidating to ask for a letter, but most faculty have written letters in the past and are used to the process. Be polite and provide information to make it easier for the individual to write you a letter.
- Set up a meeting with the individual.
- In the meeting, ask if they would be willing to provide you a positive letter of recommendation. Let them the know the timeline of when you need a letter from them and how the letter will be added to your application (for example, they will receive an email with a link to upload the letter to your application).
- If they say no, or say it won’t be a positive letter, then it’s best for you to ask someone else.
- If they say yes, ask what you can provide them that will help them write their letter.
- Follow-up with the requested materials as soon as possible.
- If they don’t know what materials they would need, provide a copy of your Personal Statement, Resume, and any relevant projects/papers/assignments from their class. It can be helpful to write a short statement of what you learned from them or concepts/examples of items discussed in their class that have helped you in future classes.
- Let them write the letter. Don’t pester them. If you provided enough advance notice and gave them your timeline, you don’t need to email them daily to ask why the letter hasn’t been submitted.
An individual who knows you well and can comment on your academic potential or your potential for the profession. They should have taught you in class or supervised or mentored you in a professional setting.
You shouldn’t ask for character letters (from your friends or family), or letters from important people who don’t know you in an academic or professional capacity (for example, politicians who are family friends).
How and when to ask for a letter
Letter writers should talk about your potential to do well academically in health profession school and your professionalism and preparation for your future profession. They should refer to the core competencies when describing your potential.
Earlier is always better. If you plan to apply in the summer, ask for letters in March/April. If you’re asking the individual for a letter, other students are likely asking that individual, too. Be respectful of their time and ask far in advance of when you need the letter.
If you ask for a letter, expect them to need at least 1-2 months to write the letter. It’s unrealistic (and rude) to expect someone to write you a letter in a week, so it falls on you to plan ahead. Asking in March/April should allow the individual plenty of time to write you a letter by June/July.
First, when did you ask for the letter? Was it a day ago, a week ago, or a month ago? Give professors 2 weeks to respond to your email. If they don’t respond after 2 weeks, follow up with another email. If they don’t respond to that email and you aren’t able to connect with them in person, it’s unlikely that they will write you a letter and you should reach out to another professor.
Storing letters and reapplying
You don’t submit any letters into your application. You will enter your letter writer’s contact information into your application and then they will receive a personalized email link/prompt with instructions for them to upload their letter into the application system.
The best practice when it comes to letters of recommendation is for you to waive access to your letter in your application. That means you won’t be able to read the letter after the application is submitted, allowing the letter writer to be honest in their comments. Whether your letter writer sends you a copy of their letter is up to them, but it’s best not to pressure them to do so.
Whether your letter writer chooses to share their letter with you should be their choice (and is not typically done), but if they do share, you still won’t be able to upload a letter into any future application. Letters always have to come from the letter writer.
If you need to reapply, stay in touch with your letter writers and ask if they would be willing to update or submit the same letter from the prior application(s). Many individuals save letters of recommendation from year to year and can easily update the date on the letter to resubmit.
Another option is a third party letter collection service like Interfolio which allows you to collect letters (without being able to read them) from letter writers and then submit letters to applications whenever you need to.
