IM Residency Recommendation Letters

[beeitchness]

I am applying for internal medicine programs as a US senior.

Do programs require applicants to have at least one internal med inpatient letter?

I am wondering since I have two outpatient letters and one chairman letter ready to go. Will programs not interview applicants who do not have any inpatient LoR?

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[DrSnips]

I am applying for internal medicine programs as a US senior.

Do programs require applicants to have at least one internal med inpatient letter?

I am wondering since I have two outpatient letters and one chairman letter ready to go. Will programs not interview applicants who do not have any inpatient LoR?

Think about this: inpatient medicine is the majority of what you do in an IM residency. If you were trying to evaluate someone for this sort of position, wouldn't you want to see a letter about how they performed during an inpatient medicine rotation?

 

[not so calm now]

Think about this: inpatient medicine is the majority of what you do in an IM residency. If you were trying to evaluate someone for this sort of position, wouldn't you want to see a letter about how they performed during an inpatient medicine rotation?

I feel like the programs will get a sense of how well you performed on inpatient through the MSPE with the 3rd year core clerkship comments in addition to the chairman's letter. My opinion is that rec letters can add a special something if you developed a good relationship with the person, and whether they were an inpatient attending or not is not necessarily something you can control.

If you have good comments on your inpatient rotation, I wouldn't overly stress about it, and definitely don't substitute what you think is going to be a great letter from an outpatient attending over a just decent letter from an inpatient attending.

But...if you have any poor comments or anything you think may be a red flag on inpatient, I could see it being very useful to have an attending who will vouch for you in this very important arena.