Being respectful with LOR requests

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
D

deleted245139

I have a bit of a dilemma and I'm not sure how to proceed:

All through rotations I've been back and forth between anesthesia and EM
I did an Anesthesia rotation in Aug this past year and had an amazing experience, and both attending docs I worked with offered me letters of rec. I had expressed my desire to pursue anesthesia as a residency and they wrote very specific letters geared toward the field. They were glowing letters and I was/am very appreciative.

As the year has progressed, I've thought extremely hard on what I want to pursue as a career and I think I have decided to go with mu original love: EM.

My questions...
-is it proper to let the two physicians know I have decided on another field?
-would the letters of rec be worthwhile to submit to ERAS anyway? (since EM prefers the SLOR I'm thinking not)
-if they offer... do I take them up on generalizing the letter?

I just want them to know how grateful I am for their time and effort.
Thanks in advance!

Members don't see this ad.
 
hey, I was deciding between anes and EM and went with EM in the end as well.

The two anesthesia attendings with whom you worked went out of their way to write you LORs. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable asking them to rewrite the letters placing less emphasis on anesthesia..

To match in EM you probably want 2 SLORs. To fulfill ERAS you only need 1 more LOR and it can come from anyone. Rather than asking the anesthesia attendings to rewrite their letters, I'd go to one of your medicine/peds/FM attendings (chairs?) who are known to write good LOR and ask them to write a letter. Or just get a letter from an EM doc you work with this summer in the ED/aways. If you honored rotations MS3, chances are you can write someone in the department (usually there are certain attendings known for writing good LOR) and let them know that you need a letter.
 
If you had a good relationship with one of the attendings, it would be okay to ask him/her to write a letter for EM. They might say no, but no real harm in asking.

I would not submit the letters as is.
Wouldn't make sense to an EM program reading a letter talking about how great you will be in anesthesia.
 
that makes sense. They both loved me and they we're amazing attendings to work with. I feel like if I won't use their letters and will pursue another field I owe it to them to tell them. I see them on a daily basis at the hospital I'm doing the bulk of my rotations through. One of the attendings (chief of anesthesia) tells me regularly he would love to hire me on after residency haha.

I'm a bit tossed but I feel as though I owe them to let them know
 
Top