4 US LOR's vs. 3 US LOR's + 1 home med school LOR

[PatNanym]

Hello everybody,

I am an IMG from India applying for the 2016 match. I had a few questions regarding letters of recommendation, and it would be great if you could clarify those.

1. I have 4 LOR's from US physicians from my electives and observerships in a university hospital in the US. But I worked with each of them for only 2wks/4wks. So should I assign all the 4 LOR's from US physicians or have on LOR from my home medical school's department chair (considering that I worked with him for 3 years)?

2. If I have an LOR from a pediatrics rotation, does it matter a lot if I assign it to an Internal Medicine program, and vice versa?

Thanks a lot!

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[Sir Gillies]

I am not sure what the right answer is but I will tell you what I have done.

1. Include 3 U.S. And 1 home LORs. The reason I chose to send the home LOR is that I knew they would provide a unique perspective about my character, work ethics, and performance as a doctor back home. Rather than just as an observer/researcher in the U.S. However, make damn sure that your mentor in India clearly states that you are amongst the top candidates/physicians in India and that they would be fortunate in the U.S. to have you. It has to be a letter written from the heart that conveys how amazing you are. If your mentor provides an average letter than I would stick with the U.S. LORs because programs will relate much more to them.

2. Ideally you want all LORs by the doctors in the specialty you are applying to. This is certainly true in plastic surgery but not sure in medicine and peds.

I think that one of the main reasons that I got interviews and managed to match was that my LORs, where very personal and heart felt. I didn't read them because I opted not to (apparently looks better if you do so). However most interviewers read passages which made me understand how much weight the place on them especially for us IMGs.

Hope this helps and please let me know if you have more questions.

 

[PatNanym]

I am not sure what the right answer is but I will tell you what I have done.

1. Include 3 U.S. And 1 home LORs. The reason I chose to send the home LOR is that I knew they would provide a unique perspective about my character, work ethics, and performance as a doctor back home. Rather than just as an observer/researcher in the U.S. However, make damn sure that your mentor in India clearly states that you are amongst the top candidates/physicians in India and that they would be fortunate in the U.S. to have you. It has to be a letter written from the heart that conveys how amazing you are. If your mentor provides an average letter than I would stick with the U.S. LORs because programs will relate much more to them.

2. Ideally you want all LORs by the doctors in the specialty you are applying to. This is certainly true in plastic surgery but not sure in medicine and peds.

I think that one of the main reasons that I got interviews and managed to match was that my LORs, where very personal and heart felt. I didn't read them because I opted not to (apparently looks better if you do so). However most interviewers read passages which made me understand how much weight the place on them especially for us IMGs.

Hope this helps and please let me know if you have more questions.

Thank you very much. That's very helpful indeed.