Do I need a surgeon's ROL?

[Radiologyreviews2015]

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I've heard different opinions:

1 Rad, 1 medicine, 1 surgery, 1 research
2 Rad, 1 medicine, 1 surgery
1 Rad, 2 surgery, 1 medicine

Is a surgery letter necessary? Is it worth doing an extra surgery rotation just for a letter?
How many radiology letters do I really need? Is one enough?

(By necessary, I mean to be competitive at top programs)

 

[Radiologyreviews2015]

Is a surgery letter necessary? Is it worth doing an extra surgery rotation just for a letter?
How many radiology letters do I really need? Is one enough?

(By necessary, I mean to be competitive at top programs)

You don't need a surgery letter. 1 radiology letter is fine (many programs don't want more than 1). 1 medicine will also be good for prelims. 1 research if you've done a lot. Last one can be whoever you think you can write you a great letter from any clerkship. Don't worry about the field or having the big name. Focus on quality. I asked a psych attending for my last one.

 

[radiologyfx]

From my experience (n of 1) you don't need a letter from a surgeon in order to be competitive. I submitted for rads programs one internal Med, one gyn, one radiology all from people who knew me well enough to write about me as a person and worker (i.e. spent a lot of time with those attendings). I got interviews at most of the top programs with those. If you want a surgical prelim you'll need the surgery letter. So you probably don't need a letter from a surgeon if your concern is rads alone. That being said if you want to do IR and are applying to direct path programs you may want one. With regards to number of letters each program requires a different minimum number. I went with the quality > quantity and submitted the same three for all.

Cheers

 

[PL198]

From my experience (n of 1) you don't need a letter from a surgeon in order to be competitive. I submitted for rads programs one internal Med, one gyn, one radiology all from people who knew me well enough to write about me as a person and worker (i.e. spent a lot of time with those attendings). I got interviews at most of the top programs with those. If you want a surgical prelim you'll need the surgery letter. So you probably don't need a letter from a surgeon if your concern is rads alone. That being said if you want to do IR and are applying to direct path programs you may want one. With regards to number of letters each program requires a different minimum number. I went with the quality > quantity and submitted the same three for all.

Cheers

If you want a surgical prelim you need a pulse