How to Ask for a Strong Letter of Recommendation
Written by Michael Galibov, DO
The time has come to ask someone for their professional opinion of you. Such a weird request, right? You don’t want to burden them with another task to complete amidst their likely busy lives, or feel that, hey maybe they don’t know enough about me to write a strong letter of recommendation.
There are some things you can do to mitigate these concerns, but first things first - overcome the hurdle of thinking that this request is an inconvenience. As we progress in our careers and journeys, we have all had mentors go to bat for us. They did too. You’re here for a reason. Let’s get you to the next chapter.
1. You want to make life easy on a letter-writer so that they can craft an exceptional letter based on information they learn from you passively and actively. Always offering to send them a current copy of your CV, a personal statement if you have one yet (totally okay if not), and anything else you want them to have access to in addition to the time you spent together.
2. As far as the actual “request”, it can be daunting at times. The goal is to be able to have mentors write a letter of recommendation. Some structure can be implemented here to simplify the process of asking for a letter of recommendation.
a. If you are on a clinical rotation: Halfway through the rotation, check in with your hopeful attending and ask for feedback. At that time, you can choose to let them know you’re hoping for a letter at the end of the rotation. It’s honestly at your discretion, I would always prefer to keep it organic and see where that conversation naturally went. You can also frame it to hear their perspective too. “I was hoping to receive a strong letter of recommendation from you and I wanted to hear your thoughts on this.”
3. Life happens, and it’s important to have a wide net of potential professionals that you would want to write you a stellar letter. I remember I would think certain people would write me a letter and the reality ended up differently for however many reasons. During interviews, solid letters have a habit of coming up and can sway some things favorably. It’s also pretty rewarding to hear an excerpt from your letter - make sure you choose those individuals that you think have a great grasp on what you bring to the table.
Finding a letter writer is both a huge deal and something that should feel natural. Come up with an initial plan but don’t worry if it changes.
Try to get a minimum of 3 letters (at least 2 in your field of interest). If you are able to get four letters of recommendation, that would be an awesome goal. You can always ask for more to use at your discretion. Start early so you’re not stressing in the clutch and possibly using letters that may not best represent you. Best of luck!
