The Instructor Hierarchy in LOR

[ipodtouch]

I already have a LOR from an assistant professor and the chair of neuro. However, im trying to get one from a medicine doctor.

One is an assistant professor of medicine (dont know quite as well) and the other is an instructor of medicine (know well, got great feedback from him). Both letters would be generally positive, but the second may be more personal. I was wondering who I should choose.

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[TUGM]

From my understanding, "instructors" are usually fellows... If that's the case, then I would go with a letter from an attending physician.

 

[ipodtouch]

He is definitely the attending. He has a number of fellows under him.

 

[typhoonegator]

Instructors vary in stature from institution to institution. In some places, clinical fellows are given Instructor status with the university or university hospital. In other places, Instructors are seen as more of adjunct faculty for very junior people doing work post-fellowship, with very little department support. Sort of like a graduate assistant, which may be able to attend on service but usually can't admit patients directly. Then there are some places that essentially never hire people fresh out of fellowship except at the instructor level, where there are clear criteria to ascend from instructor to tenure-tracked assistant professor positions in areas of expertise (i.e. master clinician, clinician educator, clinician scientist, researcher). If you have an instructor writing a letter, it can be helpful for them to explain what their title means in the letter at that particular institution.