Really late to ask for a LOR?

[Dragonfly411]

I am a third-year medical student, and I am planning on meeting in a few days with an attending that I worked with on Psychiatry (back in September '07) for a letter of recommendation. On the last day of working with him back in Sept, he offered to write me a letter, and I called him at the end of the rotation (about a month later) to ask him for one. He said he'd be happy to do it and asked me to set up an appointment through his secretary so we could meet and I could provide him with any documents that would help him write the letter.

I've waited this long to meet with him b/c I wanted to have some idea of what specialty I want to pursue (I finally decided on Pediatrics) and to have an updated CV. I still want a letter from him b/c he saw me interact with some of his difficult patients, and I had some really good experiences. For example, one of his patients usually did not want any medical students to sit in on the interview, but he actually liked me and asked the attending to invite me back for the interview.

Thus, it's been four months since I've last worked with this attending, and I've heard that if you are going to ask for a letter, do it right after the rotation so he can remember your work. I'm sure he remembers me, but I'm not sure if he recalls certain instances that helped me stand out as a medical student. My question to you all is when I meet with him in four days, is it okay to ask him to mention specific experiences in the letter in order to help him refresh his memory? Or would it actually be insulting since I don't want to appear that I am telling him how to write the letter? I've heard that the best letters are those that mention specific instances and not just those covered with great adjectives.

I'd be grateful if anyone could offer his/her opinion on this. Thanks a bunch.

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[mlw03]

i think it's OK to tell him what you're looking for, and ask, "do you feel you can write me such a letter?" i've seen some samples LoRs, and i agree that generic adjectives are worthless - when i read specifically why a candidate is earning that letter writer's endorsement it means much more. however if this faculty member writes LoRs all the time, be careful to not imply he needs instruction on how to do it.

 

[Hard24Get]

I think mlw03's advice is very good. However, I think your basic premise is wrong. Most people get their LORs from senior electives, where they have more autonomy and can more effectively demonstrate their potential as a resident. So someone going into Peds getting a LOR for residency from a 3rd yr clerkship in psych is ill-advised. Your LORs should be from your Peds Sub-I and other senior electives. The LOR you are working on seems very low yield. No offense, but I would collect the letter and use it only as a last resort.

 

[mlw03]

I think mlw03's advice is very good. However, I think your basic premise is wrong. Most people get their LORs from senior electives, where they have more autonomy and can more effectively demonstrate their potential as a resident. So someone going into Peds getting a LOR for residency from a 3rd yr clerkship in psych is ill-advised. Your LORs should be from your Peds Sub-I and other senior electives. The LOR you are working on seems very low yield. No offense, but I would collect the letter and use it only as a last resort.

solid advice - better to have more letter than you need and not use them than to not have the necessary 3. LoRs, for all we yap on here about them, ain't that useful. but many programs don't review incomplete applications. an on-time application with a mediocre LoR is better than a late application with a better LoR, in my opinion.

 

[XoQo]

...however, if you can rotate on a service where you will encounter that faculty member again during a 4th year elective...it would make a letter (perhaps) stronger as he or she would have spent more time with you and would have more things concrete to say (rather than the usual generic praise that you'd like to avoid)

I did this, for better or worse


we'll find out come match day hehe

 

[gng930]

I think mlw03's advice is very good. However, I think your basic premise is wrong. Most people get their LORs from senior electives, where they have more autonomy and can more effectively demonstrate their potential as a resident. So someone going into Peds getting a LOR for residency from a 3rd yr clerkship in psych is ill-advised. Your LORs should be from your Peds Sub-I and other senior electives. The LOR you are working on seems very low yield. No offense, but I would collect the letter and use it only as a last resort.

I'm not so sure about this when you factor in the ERAS application time line. You need at least 3 letters and ideally you want them to be in by the time you interview in November. Generally, people complete their cores and don't start electives until June/July. By the time you finish those 3 electives, it will Sept/Oct. You should always give your letter writer at least 1 month and there's also the time that it takes for the letter to be received and scanned into the ERAS system.

There's no universal way to go about it, but something to consider.

As for a psych letter, I'm applying for internal medicine and that specific letter has been brought up at least twice during an interview. Remember that the interview is a chance to get to know you personally and there's no reason that a letter from any field can't convey that information.