I'm a British grad and needless to say my school is not accustomed to giving out lor's from the department chair of medicine. They asked me for some sort of guidance/ template. My department chair had never heard of me by the way and I am now a year removed from graduation. How generic/ spacific is this lor? I read somewhere that they're supposed to put in comments from your clerkships but I thought this info went into the MSPE?? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Department of medicine chair lor
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The IM chair letter is supposed to be something of a Super-MSPE focused on your IM skills. Kind of halfway between a standard LOR and the MSPE. I think it's a silly throwback to the days when everybody knew everybody.
That's very helpful thank you! Although I agree with you I don't really see the point.
THe contents of the chair letter vary some depending on the med school...
In general, the letter from the chair contains:
1) A combination of your performance on the rotation (with comments)
2) Results of any medicine test you have have taken (the shelf here in the states)
3) Overall grade in the rotation,
4) Percentile/performance in medicine rotation compared to your peers.
Some will also put personal comments after meeting with them for a sit down interview/chat.
Hope this helps!
In general, the letter from the chair contains:
1) A combination of your performance on the rotation (with comments)
2) Results of any medicine test you have have taken (the shelf here in the states)
3) Overall grade in the rotation,
4) Percentile/performance in medicine rotation compared to your peers.
Some will also put personal comments after meeting with them for a sit down interview/chat.
Hope this helps!
Is it absolutely necessary to have a IM chair letter? I am a DO student and we don't really have IM chairs, and my school is in the sticks. So a letter from that person I believe won't count for much either. I although do have IM letters from my Sub I (big academic program assoc director) attending and 3rd year attending.
I have made searches and on some program sites it says a chair letter is required, some recommended, some make no mention of it... To my knowledge many DO schools don't really have IM chairs, or someone assigned to write letters like MD students can get.
I have made searches and on some program sites it says a chair letter is required, some recommended, some make no mention of it... To my knowledge many DO schools don't really have IM chairs, or someone assigned to write letters like MD students can get.
I don't think it is absolutely required unless the program states so. Quite a few programs just ask for plain old LORs from people that actually know you. I don't know what the consequences are if you don't have a chair letter for one that requires it though. I know a few people who didn't have a chair letter last year due to being IMGs. They matched to various places but not sure if those were the ones that required chair letters or not.
For those of us who have taken time off after our MS3 year (ie. to pursue other graduate studies, do research, etc.), should we wait until after our sub-I before getting our chairman letter?
I'm doing my sub-I next month and I'm certain that my clinical skill is better now than three years ago when I did my medicine clerkship at the very beginning of my MS3 year. That being said, if I wait then my chairman letter probably won't be submitted until sometime in September. Worth the wait?
Thanks for your input!
I'm doing my sub-I next month and I'm certain that my clinical skill is better now than three years ago when I did my medicine clerkship at the very beginning of my MS3 year. That being said, if I wait then my chairman letter probably won't be submitted until sometime in September. Worth the wait?
Thanks for your input!
desijigga: Some places that require a chairmans letter will likely ignore your application if you do not have a chair letter, or equivalent. If you rotated at a residency-based program, you can always get an equivalent letter from possibly the PD/APD to help substitute for that letter. Do you have a department of medicine at your school? If so, there should be someone to write a letter in that department.
texasguy: Yes!!! wait for your AI month. Comments from your evaluators during your AI month can help add more to your letter
texasguy: Yes!!! wait for your AI month. Comments from your evaluators during your AI month can help add more to your letter
Well I asked my school and it seems they aren't gonna do it because they haven't got a routine process and they think it would be 'impersonal' as the department chair does not know me. Oh well I guess that filters out the number of programs I can apply to 
