advice please...

[Rpre19]

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Hi everyone,
I just recently got my evaluations back from my 3rd yr psych rotation. I had a great time with my residents & attendings-more than one told me I would do well if I went into psych & they gave me great feedback.Problem is none of this is reflected in their comments in my evaluations. My evaluations were good but pretty bland. I've had really great comments from other rotations & I was surprised given the great experience i had in psych. In addition, my attending left the area so I'd have to track her down to get the letter & i just dont kow if its worth it.

Question is would it be strange not to have a LOR from my attendings from my 3rd yr rotation if i get one instead from psych electives that i will be taking shortly as a CCIV? Its just that I am not sure how the LOR will turn out if they werent very imaginative in my evaluation. Also, I know my FAm med attnd will give me a great LOR too, so i plan on getting one from there.
what do you think? Thanks for your help. The psych forum is always so helpful 😍

 

[strangeglove]

Hi everyone,
I just recently got my evaluations back from my 3rd yr psych rotation. I had a great time with my residents & attendings-more than one told me I would do well if I went into psych & they gave me great feedback.Problem is none of this is reflected in their comments in my evaluations. My evaluations were good but pretty bland. I've had really great comments from other rotations & I was surprised given the great experience i had in psych. In addition, my attending left the area so I'd have to track her down to get the letter & i just dont kow if its worth it.

Question is would it be strange not to have a LOR from my attendings from my 3rd yr rotation if i get one instead from psych electives that i will be taking shortly as a CCIV? Its just that I am not sure how the LOR will turn out if they werent very imaginative in my evaluation. Also, I know my FAm med attnd will give me a great LOR too, so i plan on getting one from there.
what do you think? Thanks for your help. The psych forum is always so helpful 😍

I think you should be fine as long as you get a letter from at least one of your psych electives. I would make a point of expressing your interest in psych at the beginning, so that your attendings are prepared to evaluate you with this in mind. Fam-med would be a good place to get a letter, too, as would medicine or surgery. Some of the more competitive programs (i.e. those that have more intensive medicine exposure during intern year) will look quite closely at your performance in medicine.

 

[musm2008]

My evaluations for psych were the lowest all year. My shelf was the highest and I thought I did pretty well. During, my mid-phase evaluation, one of the attendings gave me some feedback that was really good and it got watered-down when I got the final eval- different wording entirely. Later, I had to ask one of them for a letter, which was also really good. So, I don't know what to say about those evaluations. I think that the comments get compiled by some random staff person who doesn't really know you and is just reading some chicken stratch hand-writing.

Is there any attending that you felt like you had a good rapport with? You could ask them. I think attendings usually go out of their way to encourage studens who are planning to go into their specialty. You should track down that attending!

 

[Rpre19]

thanks guys. I think I'll look for the attending & also prepare to get a letter from my psych elective just in case. I wasnt going to get a letter from medicine but now that you mention it, I think I will.

thanks again, this definitely helped!

 

[cleareyedguy]

If you get a letter from the person who left, you might tactfully ask whether s/he had a chance to contribute to your grade on the rotation. If s/he was leaving, they might not have asked. It seems like this could theopretically be included even if it's late...

 

[Aquaranger]

Hi! I think you are much better off getting imaginative, desriptive, and, most importantly, personal letters from non-psychiatry rotations than run-of-the-mill letters from your 3d year psych clerkship. Just try to get at least 1 letter during one of your electives next year, and don't be hesitant to let your attending know that you are interested in the field. Letters from other specialties are good to have anyway... best of luck🙂

 

[musm2008]

Most residencies that I've read about require one or two letters from a psychiatrist.