Bad letters of recommendation??

[Focus]

(10-24-2021, 04:09 PM)guest1111 Wrote:

(10-24-2021, 04:02 PM)Focus Wrote: For what it is worth I have reviewed over a thousand neurosurgery applications and I would say that I can count on one hand the number of genuinely negative letters that I have seen.

Can you share what is going to happen with step 1 and step 2 scores for next cycle? I was told that a passing step 1 score will be required but the numerical step 1 scores will be blinded during the application review process. However, it may depend on programs.

We aren't that far ahead in our plans. If I don't personally have step 1 I'll use step 2 in the same fashion.

[MS1]

(10-24-2021, 04:02 PM)Focus Wrote: For what it is worth I have reviewed over a thousand neurosurgery applications and I would say that I can count on one hand the number of genuinely negative letters that I have seen.

Thanks a lot for all your help here. I was just wondering, wouldn't a neutral rec be considered bad? 

For example, I did a masters program and got a very good rec (for my medical school app). If I got a neutral rec from my mentor I would think that would be very bad. So they saw you work and didn't have good things to say about you. 

In your opinion, do you think it would be better not to ask for a rec if you know its going to be neutral? 

Thank you so much once again for all your help here.