How to get 3-4 Derm Letter of Recs?

[dermhopeful12]

Hi everyone,

I'm finishing third year and plan to apply to Derm next year and have a few questions regarding the LORs. Currently I only have 1 strong letter from my Derm research mentor. I also anticipate to have 1 from my medicine subI. Due to my scheduling constraints, I won't be able to do an away rotation until Oct-Nov.

1. From what I heard at my school, students rotate with the same attending for only 2-3 half-days during the 1-month SubI rotation (large department and multiple sites). Is it long enough to ask for a letter?

2. I could potentially rearrange my schedule to accommodate one early away rotation but that comes with a cost of taking step 2 ck without OBGYN. My concern is that the majority of derm away rotations involved a significant amount of shadowing. How would you get a good letter when you just shadow? And whether it's worth it to take Step 2 ck without OBGYN?

3. Does it look bad to have only 2 derm letters (and 2 non-derm letters)?

I appreciate any other comments on how to get the necessary number of Derm LORs.

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[FIREitUP]

Hi everyone,

I'm finishing third year and plan to apply to Derm next year and have a few questions regarding the LORs. Currently I only have 1 strong letter from my Derm research mentor. I also anticipate to have 1 from my medicine subI. Due to my scheduling constraints, I won't be able to do an away rotation until Oct-Nov.

1. From what I heard at my school, students rotate with the same attending for only 2-3 half-days during the 1-month SubI rotation (large department and multiple sites). Is it long enough to ask for a letter?

2. I could potentially rearrange my schedule to accommodate one early away rotation but that comes with a cost of taking step 2 ck without OBGYN. My concern is that the majority of derm away rotations involved a significant amount of shadowing. How would you get a good letter when you just shadow? And whether it's worth it to take Step 2 ck without OBGYN?

3. Does it look bad to have only 2 derm letters (and 2 non-derm letters)?

I appreciate any other comments on how to get the necessary number of Derm LORs.

Get at least 3 derm, though I would shoot for 4. No one cares about step 2 CK unless you bombed step 1. And no one gives a crap about what non-derm people think of you, either. You need to do research and do aways where they let you do more than just shadow, and where people have successfully secured letters from faculty.