Letter of Introduction for Meeting w/ the Dept Chair for LOR

[Notmyrealname]

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I'm applying to several programs that require letters from department chairs and so next week I'm meeting w/ the medicine chair to meet him, etc. so he can write me a letter. When I made the appt w/ his secretary among the list of things to bring to the meeting was a letter of introduction ("if you have one" she says). So, what is this? Is this a letter from me to him? Or from a faculty member who knows me? I'm confused and trying to impress, obviously. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[randomedstudent]

I'm applying to several programs that require letters from department chairs and so next week I'm meeting w/ the medicine chair to meet him, etc. so he can write me a letter. When I made the appt w/ his secretary among the list of things to bring to the meeting was a letter of introduction ("if you have one" she says). So, what is this? Is this a letter from me to him? Or from a faculty member who knows me? I'm confused and trying to impress, obviously. Any help would be appreciated.

Never heard of this, but I would just call back the secretary and ask her what it is.

 

[Sharkfan]

My guess is that she was referring to a letter from someone in the department who knows you; their letter would simply say, "Notmyrealname" has worked with me in/during _________, is a good student and blah blah blah, etc. It's just to help someone who has little to no idea who you are write a decent letter for you.

 

[yaah]

It might also simply be your CV and a short statement of why you are interested in medicine.

 

[gutonc]

It might also simply be your CV and a short statement of why you are interested in medicine.

This is what our chair wanted, CV and PS a week or so before the meeting, which is what every LOR writer should get.

It also points out how ridiculous the IM Chair's letter is. In general, applicants are told to only get letters from people who've they've worked closely with and who know them well enough to write a good, non-generic letter. OTOH, in IM at least, we're forced to get 1 of our 3 or 4 letters from someone who probably wouldn't even know our name if it weren't for the little cheat sheet they got at the beginning of the year. At my school, the chair did 1 month on service each year. So at most, 4 MS3s and 2 Sub-I's each year could rotate with him, meaning that 6/250 people could get a useful chair's letter. Since ~1/3 of our class went into IM (or IM prelim) and not all of the people who rotated w/ the chair went into IM, only ~5% of people got a chair's letter from someone who could be said to have any knowledge of their ability as a physician.

Totally OT at the end there but this is one of my huge pet peeves about applying to IM.