Dean's Letter

[maranatha]

Does anyone know how important the Dean's Letter is in the overall application? What are they looking for and why are some programs waiting to read it?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Analyzethis]

Does anyone know how important the Dean's Letter is in the overall application? What are they looking for and why are some programs waiting to read it?

Man you really are slow-seriously have you never seen or knew what dean's letter is-it is basically all the narrative portions from your clerkship evals which if you have ever talked to a PD-most say the narrative is a lot more important than simply honoring or passing a clerkship as every school has different amount of honors etc-so they look to see comments in the narrative regarding you-now are you that slow or what-what did you think was in the deans letter?

 

[maranatha]

Man you really are slow-seriously have you never seen or knew what dean's letter is-it is basically all the narrative portions from your clerkship evals which if you have ever talked to a PD-most say the narrative is a lot more important than simply honoring or passing a clerkship as every school has different amount of honors etc-so they look to see comments in the narrative regarding you-now are you that slow or what-what did you think was in the deans letter?

Analyzethis, you really are an A-Hole, aren't you. The sad part is, is that you are actually going to be treating patients !!!!!!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Man you really are slow-seriously have you never seen or knew what dean's letter is-it is basically all the narrative portions from your clerkship evals which if you have ever talked to a PD-most say the narrative is a lot more important than simply honoring or passing a clerkship as every school has different amount of honors etc-so they look to see comments in the narrative regarding you-now are you that slow or what-what did you think was in the deans letter?

Geez --- you really are insecure and stressed out about this application process. Seriously have you never known that the narrative comments on the Dean's Letter might include statements such as "not a team player...elevates self at expense of others...delights in pointing out errors made by teammates...long on book-learning, short on common-sense...residents were happy to have this guy rotate off our service...etc."

Excuse me, but I am SO f'n glad that you aren't applying to my program. Your attitude on this forum has been really tiring of late.

 

[maranatha]

Geez --- you really are insecure and stressed out about this application process. Seriously have you never known that the narrative comments on the Dean's Letter might include statements such as "not a team player...elevates self at expense of others...delights in pointing out errors made by teammates...long on book-learning, short on common-sense...residents were happy to have this guy rotate off our service...etc."

Excuse me, but I am SO f'n glad that you aren't applying to my program. Your attitude on this forum has been really tiring of late.

Maybe I am slow ...Every single one of my narratives says the same stuff like "good team player", "above average knowledge for level of training", "great with patients", etc....I HONESTLY thought these are basic comments on everyone's narratives and that they seemed kinda of typical and generic. I didn't think that negative comments could come out...

 

[maranatha]

wow-I almost have the same situation-although I passed my surgery rotation and did fine on the shelf-just the other day I was reviewing my comments from that rotation for my deans letter (thank god stuff gets deleted that doesnt sound good!) but my surgery comments were just piss poor! "student argued with attendings, was unprofessional towards his residents. Showed a poor work ethic in the OR and seemed very disinterested in this rotation" and I am like yes..

It could have been something to do with calling my chief resident a b@tch-I dunno-my dean said he will take most of the bad stuff out so nobody should see most of it-but I could have very well failed as well-

If this kind of stuff gets deleted, then what good is the Dean's Letter?

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Maybe I am slow ...Every single one of my narratives says the same stuff like "good team player", "above average knowledge for level of training", "great with patients", etc....I HONESTLY thought these are basic comments on everyone's narratives and that they seemed kinda of typical and generic. I didn't think that negative comments could come out...

Many times the Dean-designate will cherry-pick the positives, and leave out some of the less complimentary stuff. (BTW, thanks Dr. ___ for leaving out what that Neuro attending said about me back then... ) OTOH, having interviewed as both resident and attending, I have seen some seriously negative stuff get passed on in Dean's letters. It won't hurt you on one or two rotations, but if they see a pattern of disinterest, insubordination, or nastiness, they tend to let you know. Sometimes you can pick it up in the things that AREN'T said, or when an applicant is damned with faint praise.

To address your original question though, the DL comments are just part of the whole when reviewing the packet. I look at grades, boards, letters, and "personality factors"--e.g interesting work experience, a personal statement that doesn't read like a high school student council campaign speech, etc. The DL however, is a "stand-in" for your eventual diploma--it is a statement from your school that they expect to be granting you an MD soon, and as such, programs may certainly want to make sure it's in hand before offering an interview.

Good luck. (And BTW--being a "team player" and "great with patients" are both key issues in my book! )

 

[gardilimo]

Im wondering how important e/ part is to psych residencies. i know some other specialities only look for the secret word which tells your ranking. do you think this is true of some of the psych programs as well? if so, how important is which quintile of your class that you are in?

 

[lloyd braun]

Man you really are slow-seriously have you never seen or knew what dean's letter is-it is basically all the narrative portions from your clerkship evals which if you have ever talked to a PD-most say the narrative is a lot more important than simply honoring or passing a clerkship as every school has different amount of honors etc-so they look to see comments in the narrative regarding you-now are you that slow or what-what did you think was in the deans letter?

Dude...you've got problems.

 

[GatorMedMan]

Geez --- you really are insecure and stressed out about this application process. Seriously have you never known that the narrative comments on the Dean's Letter might include statements such as "not a team player...elevates self at expense of others...delights in pointing out errors made by teammates...long on book-learning, short on common-sense...residents were happy to have this guy rotate off our service...etc."

You left out lying. Analyzethis has board scores that change every time he post them on this site.

 

[maranatha]

You left out lying. Analyzethis has board scores that change every time he post them on this site.

Looks like Analyzethis got banned (although I'm sure he'll figure out a way to get back on with another username). That's fine, but I'm honestly concerned that someone like this is going to match in psych and be treating patients with psychiatric disorders within the year. That's bad enough on it's own, but one of us may end up working with him !!!!!

 

[maranatha]

Im wondering how important e/ part is to psych residencies. i know some other specialities only look for the secret word which tells your ranking. do you think this is true of some of the psych programs as well? if so, how important is which quintile of your class that you are in?

This question is actually what I should've asked in the original post...Any one?