dilemma regarding chair letter.

[Zolpidem25]

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i have a small dilemma in terms of my chairman's letter. i had met with the current IM chair at my school in july, and his letter has still not been sent to our ERAS coordinator. i have taken all of the appropriate steps to find out what has gone wrong, and how quickly it can be submitted. but my real question is this -- i have another LOR (which is already in), that is from the previous IM chair at my home institution, whom i knew somewhat better. furthermore, he is STILL an IM chair, just at a different program now. his letterhead even says "chairman" at the top.... my advisor and several other people have told me that this still would count as a chair letter for my application.

the problem is, when a program looks at my application on ERAS, it still appears incomplete to them. because i have assigned all 4 of my letters to every program. the one letter that is missing is the one that is designated as "chairman" -- so to someone downloading, they will note that this letter is still not available for download, and may not even notice that one of the other letters is also from a chair, thereby deeming my application incomplete, and delaying my interview offers.

basically, this is my question - should I simply de-assign the missing letter from all of my programs for the time being. then, it will show up as 3/3 LORs, as opposed to 3/4. my application will be viewed as complete, and programs may be more likely to note that one of the three available letters is indeed from a chairman (even though it is not designated as such on ERAS). my eligibility for interviews may therefore improve. and then -- down the road -- if the last letter does finally come in, i can at that point reassign it.... does that make any sense? or am i just totally ******ed. i feel like i have been put at a competitive disadvantage, because the current chairman for some reason is very late.

any advice??

 

[Tar Heel Born]

I think I'd deassign the 4th letter if I were you.

If it makes you feel any better, my application is still incomplete also. There was a mix-up/miscommunication between myself and the attending who is writing my letter. I've continued to hold out for the letter though, because this is an extremely influential individual on the national level (and someone whom I respect tremendously), but it is frustrating. Anyway, I've gotten interview offers from 12 of the 13 programs I applied to so far, and I think as long as my application is complete by mid-November, it won't matter. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but that's what I'm banking on.

 

[mig26x]

today was the day my chairman decided to sign the letters and finally it was scanned today, NOV 3rd!!! Incredible. That was the only thing missing in my application, but nonetheless 75% of the IM programs ask for a Chairperson.

 

[Zolpidem25]

I think I'd deassign the 4th letter if I were you.

If it makes you feel any better, my application is still incomplete also. There was a mix-up/miscommunication between myself and the attending who is writing my letter. I've continued to hold out for the letter though, because this is an extremely influential individual on the national level (and someone whom I respect tremendously), but it is frustrating. Anyway, I've gotten interview offers from 12 of the 13 programs I applied to so far, and I think as long as my application is complete by mid-November, it won't matter. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but that's what I'm banking on.

ok thanks....

any other opinions out there??

 

[Zolpidem25]

ok thanks....

any other opinions out there??

😡
well, my chairman's letter was finally uploaded to ERAS about 15 minutes ago... lets see, i met with him in mid-July. today is Nov 11th. so a 4 month turn around time. who can beat that?

too late for jhu. why do i always cry over spilled milk???
moving on....

 

[DoctorSax]

😡
well, my chairman's letter was finally uploaded to ERAS about 15 minutes ago... lets see, i met with him in mid-July. today is Nov 11th. so a 4 month turn around time. who can beat that?

too late for jhu. why do i always cry over spilled milk???
moving on....

I actually queried my chair's ghost writer about this issue last week and she was very reassuring. She spoke with Hopkins and was told that they put that deadline up there to make sure that people don't procrastinate. Apparently they don't require that the application be totally complete by that date--only "mostly" complete. Basically, I got the impression that missing one letter wasn't going to make or break the deal.

But I agree that these things should be taken care of with more expediency--four months is excessive.

No word from JHU for me either, by the way. Bof, I say. Bof.

DS