I can't get a LOR from the FM director. Does it even matter?

[Dr McSteamy]

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Members don't see this ad.

Not everyone knows the program director personally. sometimes, directors don't even show their face.

for the purpose of getting an FM residency, does it even matter if my letter didn't come from the director?

 

[deleted87716]

It shouldn't matter. Most programs don't require a letter from the department chair or residency director. They want to see letters from clinicians who know you, who have worked with you, and who can truly vouch for you. If your local PD or department chair will write you a great letter (particularly if they have name recognition), by all means, get one. If he/she doesn't know you, however, you run the risk of getting a generic letter, which won't help you much.

 

[Ypo.]

Are you trolling?

 

[Dr McSteamy]

Are you trolling?

you can't tell?

of course i'm not. i'm serious.

don't they say author>content>length?

people tell me i should try to get one from the director. but i dunno him.

 

[secretwave101]

In our program - and I think this is common to most FP program - the director position is more administrative than powerful. Sure, it looks ok on apps. But honestly, when I'm evaluating applicants and see a LOR from the director I figure they either did some admin work to get to know the PD or the letter is going to be generic and shallow.

So, it will probably help you in surgery or some specialties where that kind of thing is really important to people. Not so much in FP...at least not here.

 

[MeowMix]

It is not at all important in FM, based on my experience and what our FM faculty told us. Better to have strong letters from people who know you well.

 

[sophiejane]

Agree with secretwave. I've seen more generic and impersonal notes from department heads that have brought people down a notch than I have seen them brought up. If you truly have worked closely with the dept head and they know you well, not just on paper, all the better. Otherwise, skip it and get someone who writes well and can shed some light on what you are like as a person and a future doctor.

 

[Ypo.]

I've been told that a letter from the department head is required for most residency applications. Apparently I've been misinformed?

Anyways, I'm lucky because I actually worked with our dept head for two weeks and he offered to write me a LOR at the end of it.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

I've been told that a letter from the department head is required for most residency applications. .

can you imagine the impossibility of that?

50-100 students going after the same dept head...... is nuts

 

[Ypo.]

can you imagine the impossibility of that?

50-100 students going after the same dept head...... is nuts

That seems too high a number. Last year I think there were 10-15 people who went into FP from my school. At any rate, we all have to get a dean's letter.

Anyways, it's just what some fourth year students said. Perhaps they meant it was a requirement from our school's side of things.

 

[sophiejane]

None of the programs I applied to required a letter from the FM department head. I don't know why the school would require one either--seems like the party making the rules would be the program to which you are applying, not the school you are leaving.

Regardless, just get a few well-written, non-generic sounding letters from people who know you. At least with us, impressive titles matter way less than impressive content.