General Surgery Letters of Recommendation

[bloop213]

Just had a quick question regarding GS LORs. What is the general consensus on getting letters from surgical subspecialties for GS residency applications? And what if majority of letters come from subspecialty attendings who have done general surgery training?

Unrelated question: if I am doing an away rotation from August 28th to Sept 21st, that overlaps with the ERAS deadline (Sept 15th). How would I go about getting a good LOR from that rotation/SubI

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[doc05]

What subspecialties?

 

[bloop213]

Vascular, thoracic

 

[bloop213]

bump

 

[doc05]

Vascular, thoracic

There's no consensus, but keep in mind it's not 1950. Nowadays, vascular and thoracic surgeons have little and sometimes zero involvement in training of general surgery residents.

One letter is ok. But with too many letters from them, general surgery programs may think you're really applying to integrated programs, and see gen surg as a backup. So make sure most of your letters are from people in your field.

 

[bloop213]

Alright sounds good! I'll probably end up having a 50/50 split. Thanks for the response!

 

[Winged Scapula]

Agree with @doc05 . Subspecialties from GS are ok, but too many frm the same will look like you're using GS as a back up.

 

[bloop213]

Agree with @doc05 . Subspecialties from GS are ok, but too many frm the same will look like you're using GS as a back up.

Alright, Thanks! I'll just mix up my letters then.

 

[bloop213]

I guess a corollary to this question is would it seem weird if half my 4th year AIs/electives were directly general surgery (SICU/Trauma and GS) and other half elective subspecialty (thoracic/vascular)? For context, my actual AIs are in general surgery and my electives are in subspecialties.

 

[bloop213]

I guess a corollary to this question is would it seem weird if half my 4th year AIs/electives were directly general surgery (SICU/Trauma and GS) and other half elective subspecialty (thoracic/vascular)? For context, my actual AIs are in general surgery and my electives are in subspecialties.

Bump

 

[Winged Scapula]

I guess a corollary to this question is would it seem weird if half my 4th year AIs/electives were directly general surgery (SICU/Trauma and GS) and other half elective subspecialty (thoracic/vascular)? For context, my actual AIs are in general surgery and my electives are in subspecialties.

no.