LoR questions

[JiniInBottle]

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This LoR Author is a Department Chair where I completed my clerkship training. Group departmental letters must be signed by the team composing the letter.

What does this mean?

Also, When you're requesting a RoL. What do you need to give them? My amcas number or my ERAS token number or what?

Thank You!

 

[Raryn]

This LoR Author is a Department Chair where I completed my clerkship training. Group departmental letters must be signed by the team composing the letter.

What does this mean?

Also, When you're requesting a RoL. What do you need to give them? My amcas number or my ERAS token number or what?

Thank You!

ERAS has a form you print off for each letter writer and hand to them/their secretary. The form has the information they need to upload the letter. This is important, because the last few years they havent been allowed to just send the letters to your deans office and let them deal with it, your letter writer (or their designee, which is usually a departmental secretary but CANNOT be the dean's office) has to upload the letter themselves.

 

[JiniInBottle]

ERAS has a form you print off for each letter writer and hand to them/their secretary. The form has the information they need to upload the letter. This is important, because the last few years they havent been allowed to just send the letters to your deans office and let them deal with it, your letter writer (or their designee, which is usually a departmental secretary but CANNOT be the dean's office) has to upload the letter themselves.

but what does that option itself mean?

 

[Raryn]

but what does that option itself mean?

The first question?

Basically, many (?most) specialties require you to get a letter from the chair of the department of your specialty at your school. So if you're applying IM, one of your 4 letters should be a chairs letter from your home institution. That checkbox is to identify the chair's letter.

If you went to school outside the states, if your home institution doesn't have a department in your specialty of interest, or if you are applying to a specialty where a chair's letter isn't expected, don't worry about that box.

 

[JiniInBottle]

The first question?

Basically, many (?most) specialties require you to get a letter from the chair of the department of your specialty at your school. So if you're applying IM, one of your 4 letters should be a chairs letter from your home institution. That checkbox is to identify the chair's letter.

If you went to school outside the states, if your home institution doesn't have a department in your specialty of interest, or if you are applying to a specialty where a chair's letter isn't expected, don't worry about that box.

So you mean to say, that letter is the chair in charge of the students in that department? Like he's the main doctor in Internal Medicine to whom the students report?

Or he is the chair of Internal medicine???? To whom all of IM reports?

 

[Raryn]

So you mean to say, that letter is the chair in charge of the students in that department? Like he's the main doctor in Internal Medicine to whom the students report?

Or he is the chair of Internal medicine???? To whom all of IM reports?

The chair of internal medicine. To whom all of IM reports. The program directors boss.

You have to understand that most "chair letters" in internal medicine are not actually written by the chair. The chair has some designated people (likely including your main doctor to whom students report) that draft the letters, then the chair might meet with the student for a few minutes and write a few lines at the end before he cosigns it. From what I understand (though I've never actually read mine, I got one to apply to residency), chair letters are more of a formal thing where they go over (in depth) your evaluations and experience with the department.

 

[mvenus929]

Some programs just want a 'departmental letter', which can be from the Chair, the Program Director, or the Clerkship Director. When I applied, I happened to have worked pretty extensively with the program director, since she worked with the students a ton, so I got a letter from her, and my 'departmental letter' was actually from the clerkship director, who met with me in person and then used all the evaluations from all the pediatric rotations I had done up until that point to draft a letter. I never actually spoke with the chair.

But I'm also not in IM 🙂

 

[rokshana]

Some programs just want a 'departmental letter', which can be from the Chair, the Program Director, or the Clerkship Director. When I applied, I happened to have worked pretty extensively with the program director, since she worked with the students a ton, so I got a letter from her, and my 'departmental letter' was actually from the clerkship director, who met with me in person and then used all the evaluations from all the pediatric rotations I had done up until that point to draft a letter. I never actually spoke with the chair.

But I'm also not in IM 🙂

many IM programs specially say IM Chair LoR (though Raryn is right that it is more formality and someone else (secretary) writes it and (s)he signs it).