Do LORs from an attending from the same institution, but a different specialty, hold any special weight?

[deleted1139416]

I have a good relationship with my surgery attending who serves at two hospital (Hospital A and Hospital B). Hospital A is a community hospital where I did my surgery rotation with my attending. Hospital B is a major academic medical center and it has a residency program in the specialty I want, which is not surgery. Will getting an LOR from him hold significant weight for that specific residency program?

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[operaman]

Depends how well known and liked he is and how much he liked you. Also depends on the field - some fields are pickier about letters from others in the field. That said, I think one letter from outside the field, especially if it’s a well known and respected person and it’s especially glowing can be a nice addition to an application.

The reality is that for your home programs, all that matters is your overall reputation and how you did on your rotation with that department. If they hated you, no LOR will save you. If they already love you, then your LORs don’t make much difference and should simply confirm how they feel about you.

 

[deleted1139416]

Depends how well known and liked he is and how much he liked you. Also depends on the field - some fields are pickier about letters from others in the field. That said, I think one letter from outside the field, especially if it’s a well known and respected person and it’s especially glowing can be a nice addition to an application.

The reality is that for your home programs, all that matters is your overall reputation and how you did on your rotation with that department. If they hated you, no LOR will save you. If they already love you, then your LORs don’t make much difference and should simply confirm how they feel about you.

Thank you. I go to a DO school so I don’t have a home program or home hospital. But my schools offers a rotation with this attending who is also a faculty at a major medical center with its own residency programs and medical school. I figured since ERAS allows me to upload unlimited letters of recommendation, why not just get a letter from him just for that specific program? It might be nice to have a letter from somebody within the institution even if it’s not in the same specialty.

 

[Niwrad]

Thank you. I go to a DO school so I don’t have a home program or home hospital. But my schools offers a rotation with this attending who is also a faculty at a major medical center with its own residency programs and medical school. I figured since ERAS allows me to upload unlimited letters of recommendation, why not just get a letter from him just for that specific program? It might be nice to have a letter from somebody within the institution even if it’s not in the same specialty.

This has been the greatest source of frustration for the past 5 years for me. It feels arbitrarily more difficult to build a relationship when all of your opportunities are “away” rotations. I heard from another DO classmate that had to do 8+ months of aways rotations to match GS. The story of matching GS without away rotations doesn’t exist if you don’t have regular rotations in GS to begin with.