Question regarding derm LORs...
Should you always get a letter from an away rotation so you can submit that letter when you apply there or is it better to just submit your strongest letters, regardless of if they are from that institution or not? I feel like my letters from other aways will be stronger since I interacted with the same attendings more often and they got to know me. If I did an away at a program but don't have a letter from them in my application would this be concerning to that particular institution or is it still better to have stronger letters from elsewhere?
It depends.
In general, I would say get the letter first and then figure out how you want to deploy it.
In general, you are correct, you want to use your strongest letters.
There are a couple of scenarios where you may want to deviate from that and you'll have to use your gut instinct (if it gives you too much of a headache, just keep it simple and use your 3 strongest letters):
- was your away rotation at a program that was big or small? If it's a small program, I think it's fine to omit a LOR since theoretically, a small department should know everyone within itself. There are some programs that are so large, the faculty don't get a chance to regularly communicate. In those instances, it would be beneficial to have a LOR from that program so that the faculty all know you rotated there and were hopefully thought of highly there (particularly if your LOR is from the chair or the PD of the department)
- do you think program looks favorably upon letters from outside places? I rotated at a very large, very prestigious Derm department and letters from smaller programs were almost viewed as toss away letters. So while I may have thought my letter from my research mentor who I had known for 3+ years would be stronger, the derm department I had rotated through probably would have preferred a generic letter from any of its faculty members.
- I've seen the opposite occur too. I also rotated at a smaller derm department in the same city as the aforementioned larger program. This smaller program felt like it had "little sibling" syndrome. If you had a ton of research and some fancy LORs, they assumed you were headed elsewhere and it would have an effect on your ranking. In this case, it may also be in your favor to use a LOR from someone within their faculty, to show that you are specifically interested in their program.
Again, a million different ways to give yourself a headache when going through this process. If all else fails, just use your best strongest letters to save your sanity. Good luck!
