How do I get more letters of rec?

[liyaz]

To preface, my med school story has been a really rough one: one of my parents passed away during M1, I struggled with exams, and took some time off to deal with depression. So, I basically went into M3 with rock bottom levels of self esteem and just tried to survive and stay under the radar... thus, I did not make much of an impression on many attendings and have very little options for LORs currently.

Ultimately, I'm going into psychiatry, the one field in medicine I truly am passionate about. Thankfully, I got an honors in that, so at least I have one figured out! But I really don't think any of my other M3 attendings would remember me enough to write a great letter for me.

As for 4th year, I have
- a psych elective in July = letter #2
- a neuro elective in Aug, but I just found out that it will be split among multiple attendings, basically ~1-2 weeks per attending. Would that be enough time to get a legitimate LOR?
- an EM rotation in Sept - should I just try to rock that and get a late LOR from that?

Or, should I just try to get a letter from one of my M3 clerkships, even though I'd risk them being slightly generic or less than "strong"?

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[Oso]

Hey

Firstly, I'm really sorry to hear about your parent's passing, depression, and other struggles.

Did you get a high pass in any third year clerkships? If you feel like you connected with any attendings from third year I would shoot them an email and just see if they'd be willing to write you a strong letter.

Also, are you doing an internal medicine Sub-I at all? I feel like a letter from that would be really helpful if you could schedule that before/for August.

Otherwise your best bet for a third letter would be neuro, but I would get in touch with the clerkship director ahead of time and let them know you want a letter.

 

[liyaz]

Hey

Firstly, I'm really sorry to hear about your parent's passing, depression, and other struggles.

Did you get a high pass in any third year clerkships? If you feel like you connected with any attendings from third year I would shoot them an email and just see if they'd be willing to write you a strong letter.

Also, are you doing an internal medicine Sub-I at all? I feel like a letter from that would be really helpful if you could schedule that before/for August.

Otherwise your best bet for a third letter would be neuro, but I would get in touch with the clerkship director ahead of time and let them know you want a letter.

Hey, thanks. I did high pass obgyn and neuro but it was more because of my work with the residents/other students/patients -- I barely interacted with my attendings except on rounds, where I was not impressive at all. And, I'm pretty sure they were not made aware of my behind the scenes work. So I'd be worried about getting a lukewarm or generic LOR if I were to request it from them.

My medicine sub-i is not til January, with no chance of changing since the waitlists are super filled for the summer slots. I like your idea of letting my neuro site director know of my desire for a letter before my clerkship -- maybe that will help.

 

[DrMcCoyDO]

I’ve heard of department heads writing letters of rec based on overall clinical performance after a sit-down with them. You might want to reach out to your school to see if whichever physician who heads your psych department would be willing to do that.

 

[ButterButter]

Get LORs from every rotation from here on out. Go into each rotation telling yourself: I'm getting a LOR from this rotation and work toward that. If you work with several different attendings on the rotation, seek out the few that seem to actually take a genuine interest in either you or teaching. Think of thoughtful questions to ask; pull them aside after rounds and pick their brain (hey I was reading this article in NEJM last night about blablabla); make them notice you for what you are: an interested M3/4. No one's asking you to do crazy **** except show up early, bust a$$, and show interest.

 

[summerempress]

Tell them that you are interested in asking for LOR at the beginning of the rotation so they remember you more, then make efforts to work hard and work more with that specific person you ask letter for.