A LOR question - Who is "a Surgeon"?

[Leukocyte]

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I just have a quick question regarding Letters Of Reccomendation for General Surgery.

I heard that you need letters from "surgeons", well who qualifies as a "surgeon"?...

Do they mean that all your letters should come from General Surgeons?

-Would a Letter from Orthopaedic Surgery be OK?

-Would a Letter from OB/GYN be OK?

-Would a Letter from Ophthalmology be OK?

Thank You 🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

In general when applying for, well, General Surgery, I would stick to letters from General Surgeons and subspecialties of that (ie, Vascular, CT, etc.).

A LOR from an Ophtho might be ok but one from an OB-GYN would be iffy as many general surgeons do not consider them to be surgeons at all (see previous threads on this topic)!

The best letters are of course from the surgeon who knows you the best, so if that's an Orthopod, so be it.

 

[Leukocyte]

Thanks Kimberli! 🙂

Its just not easy to get letters from General Surgeons b/c most of us medical students interact with the residents during rotations. 🙁

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks Kimberli! 🙂

Its just not easy to get letters from General Surgeons b/c most of us medical students interact with the residents during rotations. 🙁

I know...I was there once too!

Are you not scrubbing in with the attendings, seeing patients in clinic with them? Every year thousands of medical students get LORs from the attendings; most of these students also have more contact with the residents than they do the attendings.

Most attendings I know discuss medical students with the residents to get their input; so if you feel the Chief knows you better, he can always talk with the attending to "beef up" your LOR a bit. The attendings on any service know you need LORs and if they know early on that you are interested in their field (as they would if you're doing a sub-I), then they will make (or should make) some effort to keep an eye out on you.

If they are not comfortable writing a letter for you and the Chief resident feels he/she cannot add anything to a letter that the attending is willing to write, then look elsewhere.

 

[johnny_blaze]

Its just not easy to get letters from General Surgeons b/c most of us medical students interact with the residents during rotations. 🙁

See if its possible to get involved in any research in GS while you have spare time or are on elective. Ask the residents which attendings usually involve students in their research and then ask them personally if you can participate in anything their doing or are planning to do. It doesn’t have to be a big project, something small and relevant to the department will do. This will 1) allow the attending to get to know you a bit better 2) Give him/her something more to talk about in a LOR 3) May lead to a published paper. 👍
I’ve done this as I had some trouble getting to know attendings and it worked pretty well.

 

[Ergo]

I was surprised at the response I got when I asked for a LOR from the well known attending who was on my GS Service. My concern was that I had not worked one-on-one with him, mostly just with the residents, etc. Apparently they know what is going on in their teams, because a few months later when I met with him to ask for a LOR he was able to to comment on my work on his service. Leukocyte, set up a meeting with your attendings and ask them is they feel that they could write a strong LOR for you.

 

[Blade28]

I agree with Kim's comments...stick with letter writers who have completed G Surg residencies themselves.

So this includes general surgeons, as well as those in vascular, CT, trauma, etc.

I wouldn't include those in ophtho, ENT, neuro, etc. for that reason.