LOR from nearly complete stranger

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I’m a HS student who will be interning at NIH (NEI to be specific which is very related to my dream job: retinal eye surgeon) this summer and during my senior year.</p>

<p>Anyways, I happened to run into a PhD researcher in the NEI who is the same ethnicity as me. He says that he is very eager to help me and such.</p>

<p>He says that he can acquaint me with the top researcher at NEI who he claims is the world’s foremost eye researcher.</p>

<p>It seems a bit weird to ask for a LOR form this “world-famous” guy who I probably will see only when asking for LOR.</p>

<li><p>Should I ask for a LOR for selective medical school, selective undergrad school, or both? Would this be considered rude to ask for a LOR twice?</p></li>
<li><p>If he really is “world famous”, then would undergrad colleges and/or medical schools recognize the person as such and not just as a “regular” PhD? (oxymoron I know lol).</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>Are you kidding me? You have never met the guy and you want a rec? What makes you think you are entitled to recommendation from this guy?</p>

3

<p>What? No!</p>

4

<p>I didn’t suggest it; the guy I previously mentioned did. Although, I think he implied that I should do work for him later on (e.g. after undergrad admissions have come and gone) in order to get a LOR for med school not undergrad.</p>

5

<p>I actually had one of my LOR professor tell me she had two people that she has never seen before ask her for a LOR. She went on to write it and include information such as, “I have never seen this person before.”</p>

6

<p>LOL, I guess I’ll try to work for the guy then.</p>

7

<p>Who’s the dude, by the way?</p>

8

<p>I think it was Dr. Chang, but that doesn’t help much know does it? Heh…</p>

9

<p>Letters of recommendation include, but are not limited to, the following:</p>

<p>– How long you have known the recommendee
– The capacity in which you have known the recommendee
– Duties and responsibilities
– How well those duties and responsibilities were handled
– Comments on work ethic
– Comments on character
– How heartily the writer can support that person’s application</p>

<p>If I were that “world famous” person and you came to me asking for a recommendation, my polite answer would be, “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel I know you well enough to be able to write a helpful letter.” </p>

<p>Trust me when I say that it’s easy to spot the difference between letters from those who know you and those who don’t. Your best recommendations will come from those who know you best.</p>