pre-med kvetching (any advice welcome)
ok, so now that the cover letter thing's cleared up (thanks! :) ....
so most med schools apparently require a letter of recommendation from a humanities or social sciences professor - i remember my friend jessie o. frantically begging art history professors, who barely remembered her and wanted to know why she wasn't applying to art history grad school, during secondaries. since i had very little idea that i'd be applying to medical schools 3 years ago, although i took a bunch of english and "breadth requirement" classes, i really didn't think it was necessary to "get to know" any professors. i also don't remember the names of any of my TAs. (although i do remember that one had a hairstyle that looked like a soft-serve ice cream cone ...)
so i'm basically in the same boat as jessie o., EXCEPT that when i was a senior i took a fiction writing seminar, that was a small workshop of only about 10 people. so by virtue of this setting, the preceptor definitely got to know me. anyway, upon deciding upon med school, i contacted the preceptor. now kind of a big shot at the iowa writers' workshop, she said she'd definitely write me a letter. in the past few months, i've been in contact with her about documents to sign, where to send them, etc.
i checked with cabot house about 3 weeks ago, and they still don't have a letter from her. not a big deal - the absolute latest cabot house wants them, so they can write their House letter of recommendation, is June 1. but i've e-mailed her 4 times over the course of two weeks ... and have gotten no response! WHICH IS REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING. i mean, the least she can do is say "Hey, got your e-mail, I'm busy right now, but I'll have it in by June 1." and yes, i did call the iowa writer's workshop (ok, i know, i've gone pre-med crazy), and they said that she's definitely around, although leaving next week (i'm afraid she'll be going to one of those writers' retreats, where people just stay in a room by themselves and get meals dropped off at their door and have otherwise no contact with the outside world, for several weeks).
so yeah. i'm just frustrated. on the one hand, i can see that if i'm a writer, and all caught up in writing and literature and art, i'd be suspicious of a former student asking for a recommendation, especially since that student first ditched writing for chemistry grad school, and is now ditching chem grad school for med school. ON THE OTHER HAND - ok, a one sentence e-mail to confirm that my e-mails were received is NOT difficult. i even switched up the e-mail accounts i sent them from, to make sure they weren't going into any Spam folders.
ah, the pre-med life. i feel like american med schools applications are designed such that you spend your whole pre-med career grovelling. grovelling for grades, grovelling for recommendations ... i really, really hate how i act sometimes. GAH.
so most med schools apparently require a letter of recommendation from a humanities or social sciences professor - i remember my friend jessie o. frantically begging art history professors, who barely remembered her and wanted to know why she wasn't applying to art history grad school, during secondaries. since i had very little idea that i'd be applying to medical schools 3 years ago, although i took a bunch of english and "breadth requirement" classes, i really didn't think it was necessary to "get to know" any professors. i also don't remember the names of any of my TAs. (although i do remember that one had a hairstyle that looked like a soft-serve ice cream cone ...)
so i'm basically in the same boat as jessie o., EXCEPT that when i was a senior i took a fiction writing seminar, that was a small workshop of only about 10 people. so by virtue of this setting, the preceptor definitely got to know me. anyway, upon deciding upon med school, i contacted the preceptor. now kind of a big shot at the iowa writers' workshop, she said she'd definitely write me a letter. in the past few months, i've been in contact with her about documents to sign, where to send them, etc.
i checked with cabot house about 3 weeks ago, and they still don't have a letter from her. not a big deal - the absolute latest cabot house wants them, so they can write their House letter of recommendation, is June 1. but i've e-mailed her 4 times over the course of two weeks ... and have gotten no response! WHICH IS REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING. i mean, the least she can do is say "Hey, got your e-mail, I'm busy right now, but I'll have it in by June 1." and yes, i did call the iowa writer's workshop (ok, i know, i've gone pre-med crazy), and they said that she's definitely around, although leaving next week (i'm afraid she'll be going to one of those writers' retreats, where people just stay in a room by themselves and get meals dropped off at their door and have otherwise no contact with the outside world, for several weeks).
so yeah. i'm just frustrated. on the one hand, i can see that if i'm a writer, and all caught up in writing and literature and art, i'd be suspicious of a former student asking for a recommendation, especially since that student first ditched writing for chemistry grad school, and is now ditching chem grad school for med school. ON THE OTHER HAND - ok, a one sentence e-mail to confirm that my e-mails were received is NOT difficult. i even switched up the e-mail accounts i sent them from, to make sure they weren't going into any Spam folders.
ah, the pre-med life. i feel like american med schools applications are designed such that you spend your whole pre-med career grovelling. grovelling for grades, grovelling for recommendations ... i really, really hate how i act sometimes. GAH.