How important are LoRs from med/peds faculty?

[jones173]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of selecting my fourth year electives and being that I am an FMG who is really interested in medpeds it is important for me to get as may good American letters as possible. Now my medical school is affiliated with Columbia University in NYC, so I am planning on doing both a peds SubI and medicine subI there, hoping to get good letters from each.

My main question is if it would be better do just do one elective at Columbia and do another at a medpeds program to get a letter from a well known program to make my application a bit more competitive.

Thanks so much for any advice,
j

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[group_theory]

There's no easy answer to your question.

Having a med-peds letter is not a requirement and having 2 strong letters from medicine and from pediatrics will certainly not hurt you (especially if they are from sub-I rotations).

A Med-Peds letter can help you though in a sense that it tells programs that you are interested in Med-Peds, you are dedicated to it, and you know what you are getting yourself into. In addition, Med-Peds (especially academic med-peds) is a relatively small community and there is a good chance your med-peds faculty who is writing the LOR might know some program directors (and vice versa) ... which is always helpful.

In the end, you can't go wrong with either option. Just make sure you meet the LOR requirements that Med-Peds programs require (check out the thread here in the forum or check the individual program's website)