Audition without LOR?

[serimeri]

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Hi,
So I did an audition in a specialty I liked last year and I had a great experience. It was without any residents, so I worked closely with the Assistant PD and sometimes the PD&other faculty. I thought I sucked at first, but gradually I got better. Unfortunately, I had a few issues that came up with my mother's health and I got side tracked. I didn't ask her for an LOR since I was not sold on the specialty (psych) until after some more soul searching, it was my only audition too. The APD wrote me a nice evaluation for my school, and I lagged to ask for an LOR. I still managed to match, but did so without an LOR from a PD or an official chair of psychiatry letter.

I e-mailed her a few weeks ago, and she said, that she didn't feel comfortable writing it because I was not at the level I needed to be. I was quite shocked considering what a wonderful eval she wrote for me, but I knew it was my fault for waiting so long.

My question is: is there any point in asking the PD of the faculty (with whom I had less interaction) to write me a letter for the purposes of another reference? I would just be obtaining this letter for fellowship purposes and the likely event that I may decide to transfer further along during the residency to a location closer to home?

Thanks for any guidance, and yes, I know it was quite stupid of me to wait so long and not follow up. This has been a very difficult year for my family and I. I am amazed that I managed to match given some of the stuff I've had to deal with.

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

AFAIK, letters from people you worked with in medical school are not helpful for fellowship. I'd forget about it and concentrate on impressing faculty at your new program.

 

[serimeri]

I'm confused. Did you match to that program? It seems like you didn't. So if she told you no once, and included the specific statement that she was not impressed with your work, why would waiting longer change her mind?

No, I didn't match that program, it was a little over my league due to the geography and competitive applicants it attracted.

I was not worried about matching there, but rather using the letter should I want to transfer to another program later on. I am not interested in her or the program, but there are other faculty members, including the actual PD, who knew me. Basically, I just want to see if its worth the effort to try and get an LOR out of them for the purposes of securing a transfer spot later on (should one open up closer to my hometown).

Sorry for making this super confusing.

 

[serimeri]

AFAIK, letters from people you worked with in medical school are not helpful for fellowship. I'd forget about it and concentrate on impressing faculty at your new program.

thanks, yeah I was figuring that even if I wanted to transfer, they'd care more about the faculty at my new program.