HELP! What makes an excellent IM LOR?

[PalCareGrl]

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I'm finishing up my core IM rotation and I approached my attending about writing me a letter. He said that he would like me to essentially write the letter and then he would put it on his letter head and edit, proofread it, etc. So I'm stuck now and I hate writing my own letters (for grad school, etc...).

So, my basic question is... what do programs look for in a letter? How personal should the writer get? Usually when someone writes me a letter I give them a personal statement and a CV so they have something to go off of, and I sit down and meet with them if possible to, so it can be more personalized.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 😀

 

[ears]

If he won't write the letter himself, you don't want the letter, probably. Get a letter from someone else.

 

[jb2]

One of my attendings asked me to write my letter also. I wrote the best letter that I could muster and he when he proofread it, he made it even better! Sometimes, maybe they are just too busy to take time to write the whole letter.

 

[irlandesa]

also respectfully disagree. From what I'm told, a good LOR/eval creates a good understanding of the environment in which you worked with the person (i.e. instead of, "Ms. Jones rotated through Hospital X and did a good job", "Ms. Jones spent 6 weeks on the inpatient service at Hospital X, I spent four weeks working with her as the attending physician for her team, and was very impressed with her work and dedication," would be much better. The letter writer would ideally then go on to describe what particularly impressed him about your work and character, and the more specific the better. If Hospital X doesn't really have a national reputation but is a strong affiliate or has rotating residents from high-power residency programs (i.e. Faulkner-BWH, Newton-Wellsley-MGH, etc.), that is important to mention as well.

 

[Samir Desai]

In my opinion, it should always be the faculty member who writes the letter and faculty members who adopt this approach of having the student write it, are simply being lazy. Faculty should realize that this is one of their responsibilities and should set aside time to create a letter that supports the student's application.

In any case, let's say you're a student who has been given the opportunity to write your own letter of recommendation. It's up to you, of course, to decide whether you want to take the attending up on his or her offer. If you do, the key as irlandesa mentioned, is to include specifics, details, and support that backs up praise of you as a candidate. One strategy is to focus on three or four qualities that are highly valued by your chosen specialty. Then, in your letter, you can write about how you have these qualities and back it up with specific examples. To come up with these examples, you'll have to think back to your experiences as a student working under this attending physician. Ask yourself "how did I demonstrate" quality ___ during my rotation with Dr. ...

Letters of this sort are much more impressive than letters that simply say that an applicant has quality X, Y, and Z but provide no support for the assertion. If you want a letter to stand out, that's the key.

Best of luck,

Samir Desai, MD

 

[doc05]

wow. you have the opportunity to write yourself a spectacular letter. be specific, focus on your strengths. If you're not the best with words, have a friend revise it so that it "sounds" good. good luck.