letter advice

[eirinn152]

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i'm a 4th year matching into anesthesia. i have a letter from the chairman of the anesthesia dept, but should i get another anesthesia letter? i'm getting others from medicine and ob/gyn rotations, but do programs want to see mostly letters from anesthesiologists?

 

[2ndyear]

Most important thing is what is in the letter. A two sentence letter from an anesthesiologist that says "Eirinn did a month long elective in anesthesia. He/she seemed interested and I recommend her/him for residency" means little. Much better to have a letter from someone you worked closely with that writes good letters. Of course you may not see these letters at all if you waive your right to do so, but you'll have some idea when you ask.

 

[pjl]

I know that some of the places I interviewed looked exclusively at my letters from anesthesia people, so I would recommend going for 2 and 2. On the other hand, there are some staff from my med school that said letters from only anesthesia people were a red flag to them as well.