Would you take this letter of recommendation?
I emailed one of my undergrad profs to ask for LOR for this cycle (MD-PhD) and this is the body of the response:
“Great to hear from you! And I am happy to hear you have been having a good experience in ***. I am happy to submit a letter for you, but I am not sure I am the best person. I am your “third”. I assume you will ask (Undergrad PI) and your current advisor as well.
Certainly, if you would like, I am happy to do it, and yes please send me your current CV and notes from the schools about what they want me to emphasize.”
This prof actually already submitted a letter for me for previous scholarships/fellowships that I ended up winning, so there is an existing letter that definitely isn’t bad, though it might not be super ultra outstanding.
My current letter confirmed situation is:
Two undergrad PIs, another undergrad prof, summer research PI, and my current PI in postgrad, so there’s 5 and this prof would make 6 if I do end up asking them for the letter.
I know that might already seem like a lot, but I am hoping to be competitive for top MD-PhD programs where I know I will be competing with lots of applicants with 6+ LORs.
Personally I don’t think her response is that dissuading, she’s already written for me in the past for things I’ve been successful applying for and she actually expressed a similar hesitation previously in the beginning, which struck me as a genuine sort of self conscious idk that im the right fit, not “I don’t like you or think you’re a good student”, but some friends seemed more hesitant to move forward with accepting the letter.
What do you recommend I do?