Concern about a letter of recommendation

Question: I have a question about a L.O.R that I am quite concerned about. Okay so here is the story. A while ago I asked a pharmacist who I volunteered with for one of my two required L.O.R's and he agreed. I was confident that he would give me a positive recommendation from our past experiences so I felt comfortable asking. Very shortly after, I put his information into the PharmCAS Reference section.

I was planning on giving him a copy of my resume and a few other papers later on in the week and I even told him he had until November to finish so I did not expect him to complete it so soon. This was his first recommendation so that might also be a reason why but long story short, there was a misunderstanding and he finished the recommendation in 30 minutes, which I timed between two e-mails that I received! I was very alarmed at how quickly he finished, especially because there was a comments section like you mentioned in the blog and I'm pretty sure he didn't have the letter typed already. In his last e-mail, he told me that he "highly recommended" me for admission but didn't mention the comments or the other sections, only that he finished and received a confirmation email. I checked pharmCAS and the status for his rec is "complete".

I waived my right to see but I'm guessing he put only a few sentences in the comments section and then submitted. I haven't asked him anything yet because it's pretty late. Should I be very concerned about this? I'm guessing because he already got a confirmation email, he can't make changes to his recommendation anyways, is this true? I was hoping something like this wouldn't happen.. do you think my application is shot because of this? And I know it's not his fault at all, he was only trying to help. It was my fault for being so careless and assuming but is there anything at all that I can do now? What would you recommend that I do in this case? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.


Answer: Based on the number of emails we have received, you are not the only applicant with concerns and/or questions about their LORs. Here is my take: If this pharmacist highly recommended you, that should be good enough and I wouldn't stress too much.

Would we like for all of our LORs to be heartfelt novellas about our character and work ethic? Sure. However, he may have had a "stream of consciousness" and just knocked out a very supportive letter for all you know.

As a lesson, your situation does provide a nice case study for others. As noted in previous entries, we encourage you to first explain the application process and what you hope to have your reviewers do to benefit you. Give him/her a copy of your CV or resume and have a brief discussion of what it means for you to be accepted into pharmacy school. An honest, frank request for a positive evaluation is usually well received and I have found myself more likely to provide a student with a thorough and supportive letter when they have given me adequate reason to do so.

All in all, what's done is done. I don't think you have any reason to worry. A high recommendation from a pharmacist will serve you very well even if his comments are on the light side.