Cover Letter

[LotaPower]

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Hey all,

I'm an M3 getting ready to secure some LORs and I think a cover letter would be an appropriate add on to the slim CV I will be submitting to my attendings. I would really like my medicine and surgery attendings to write me a letter that is geared towards EM. What is the most effective and rewarding way to do this? what should I suggest he/she say about a student that will surely catch an EM PD's attention?

Has anyone else used a cover letter when submitting requests for LORs?

Thanks for your help!

 

[LotaPower]

😕

 

[Hercules]

I didn't use a cover letter, but I did put together a packet for my letter writers. Ideally this should include:
1) CV
2) Transcript
3) Personal Statement (if complete)
4) The LOR cover letter (printed off from myERAS or the CORD website)

I wouldn't really worry about the medicine or surgery attendings attesting to your qualifications for EM. Your SLORs from EM faculty will do that. The non-EM letters should probably just talk about what a great and wonderful person/med student that you are in general 😉

 

[LotaPower]

I didn't use a cover letter, but I did put together a packet for my letter writers. Ideally this should include:
1) CV
2) Transcript
3) Personal Statement (if complete)
4) The LOR cover letter (printed off from myERAS or the CORD website)

I wouldn't really worry about the medicine or surgery attendings attesting to your qualifications for EM. Your SLORs from EM faculty will do that. The non-EM letters should probably just talk about what a great and wonderful person/med student that you are in general 😉

Do you think a coverletter and/or the stuff you mentioned be a good idea for LORS from EPs?

 

[Hercules]

Do you think a coverletter and/or the stuff you mentioned be a good idea for LORS from EPs?

First off let me point out that none of the stuff I listed is truly necessary, and most people don't do it. I was just a big dork who had some extra time on my hands 😉 I put the things I listed together in a folder and handed that to each of my letter writers (a pediatrician and 3 EPs) when I met with them to discuss my LOR.

 

[Daiphon]

Do you think a coverletter and/or the stuff you mentioned be a good idea for LORS from EPs?

to horn in... that depends on the ep. if you've worked several shifts with him/her and feel you have a good relationship, then mayhap not... but if you're getting a letter from the pd and you don't really know him/her, then all that couldn't hurt, and could possibly give you a stronger letter.

if you haven't already, go download the SLOR form from CORDem... this you should definitely include with any packet to the EP's writing your lor's... that's just courteous.

what i included:
ERAS cover letter, SLOR, CV, PS (iff requested)...

my $.02
-t,md

 

[colforbinMD]

On a related note.... I was wondering how long some of your non-EM, non-SLOR letters were. I have gotten one from Family and one from IM both of which say very nice things about me and a few personal comments but both seem a little short to me from what I expected. Are people getting 2-3 page letters out there? So in summation does size really matter? 🙂

 

[Daiphon]

i don't think "size matters." in fact, i don't think they necessarily matter at all, unless they state that you are a homicidal maniac with a tattoo of Oakland County, Michigan's finest incarcerated individual on your bicep.

there's a reason that EM went to the standardized LOR... to cut through all the mierda del toro, so to speak...

Some good articles on the subject are:
DV Girzadas, Jr, RC Harwood, J Dearie, and S Garrett
A comparison of standardized and narrative letters of recommendation
Acad Emerg Med 1998 5: 1101-1104

Daniel V. Girzadas, Jr., Robert C. Harwood, Steve N. Delis, Kathleen Stevison, George Keng, Nancy Cipparrone, Andrea Carlson, and George D. Tsonis
Emergency Medicine Standardized Letter of Recommendation: Predictors of Guaranteed Match
Acad Emerg Med 2001 8: 648-653.

another good paper to read would be:
Joseph T. Crane and Carl M. Ferraro
Selection Criteria for Emergency Medicine Residency Applicants
Acad Emerg Med 2000 7: 54-60


I'm not trying to be one of "those" people whose every other phrase involves "well, this study in bohemian monkfish showed X...", I just thought they were useful for me... cleared some stuff up.

On a related note.... I was wondering how long some of your non-EM, non-SLOR letters were. I have gotten one from Family and one from IM both of which say very nice things about me and a few personal comments but both seem a little short to me from what I expected. Are people getting 2-3 page letters out there? So in summation does size really matter? 🙂

 

[dlung]

First off let me point out that none of the stuff I listed is truly necessary, and most people don't do it. I was just a big dork who had some extra time on my hands 😉 I put the things I listed together in a folder and handed that to each of my letter writers (a pediatrician and 3 EPs) when I met with them to discuss my LOR.

Great, I must be a super-big dork b/c I put together really nice looking packets in shiny folders with a tables of contents printed on a business card inserted on the side with cover letter, personal statement, CV, SLOR form, transcript, copy of Step 1 score, copy of paper abstract, and a 100-page dissertation on how Monty Python illustrates the socioeconomic disparities among ballpark hot dog vendors. I got LORs from 4 EPs, 1 Surgery attending, and 1 Medicine attending.

 

[dchristismi]

On a related note.... I was wondering how long some of your non-EM, non-SLOR letters were.

The only reason I know this is because one of my interviewers said "Someone did this for me years ago, so I'm going to do it for you: this is what your letters say." And he read them verbatim. They were surprisingly short (but thankfully, glowing).

So I wouldn't worry too much about length.

I gave a packet to my letter writers (2 EPs, 1 program director, 1 PICU attending) with my CV, board scores, personal statement, transcript, and the ERAS cover letter. One of my letter writers later told me that he didn't even look at it, because he knew I was awesome, and wasn't going to judge me by anything other than my rotation and research with him.

But I'm a dork, too.

 

[LotaPower]

I wonder why do some people include board scores with the CV info when requesting a letter? it would be kind of odd for an attending to mention your step 1 score in his LOR. Do they use it for any other reason?

 

[Hercules]

I wonder why do some people include board scores with the CV info when requesting a letter? it would be kind of odd for an attending to mention your step 1 score in his LOR. Do they use it for any other reason?

You include your board scores in the application if you think it helps your application. I included mine, and two of my letter writers were very interested in it. One of the PDs who wrote my SLOR actually mentioned my Step 1 score in the comment section at the end of the SLOR.

 

[dchristismi]

I put mine in because my Step 2 score was 29 points higher than my average Step 1 score. It's totally up to you, though. I don't think any letter writer would care if they weren't there - but if they're stellar, sure, why not?