Letters of Recommendation : Health Sciences Program : Hanover College

Letters of Recommendation

Usually you will be asked to give references from two science faculty and from one non-science faculty or personal reference, such as a healthcare professional who has had the chance to get to know you pretty well. Additionally some state schools will require a note from your Dean of Students to establish your record as a good campus citizen. Get to know your faculty well so that they can write effective letters of recommendation. Choose referees who really know your character, who can discuss your motivation, work ethic, integrity, sense of humor, and caring nature as well as your aptitude for the field.

At Hanover, the HSP Advisory Committee believes that individual letters of recommendation, based on personal acquaintance with your academic aptitude, are much stronger and more effective than composite letters. Therefore, it does not write committee letters of recommendation for medical school applications. In many cases, the schools that opt to write committee letters do so because classes are too large for any one faculty member to know his or her students well enough to write an individual letter, and because they provide the schools a way to screen out weak applications.