letter of rec question

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Hi I am an MS III and i have a question about LOR's for peds residencies. It seems like every program wants 3. Does every applicant have all their letters from pediatricians? I'm kinda in a bind. I did 4 weeks of peds in October but I sometimes felt like the attending was annoyed with me, so I decided not to ask him for a letter. Now I feel like I have to email him and ask. I'm currently doing a NICU rotation for 4 weeks, but I'm with a different attending every week. I don't do another peds rotation until May (def. asking for one here). Then for 4th year, I don't have the opportunity to do a peds rotation until October (applications are usually in by september right?). Does it look bad if one or two letters are from doctors other than pediatricians? Thanks to anyone that can answer.

 

[Rutgers06]

Hi I am an MS III and i have a question about LOR's for peds residencies. It seems like every program wants 3. Does every applicant have all their letters from pediatricians? I'm kinda in a bind. I did 4 weeks of peds in October but I sometimes felt like the attending was annoyed with me, so I decided not to ask him for a letter. Now I feel like I have to email him and ask. I'm currently doing a NICU rotation for 4 weeks, but I'm with a different attending every week. I don't do another peds rotation until May (def. asking for one here). Then for 4th year, I don't have the opportunity to do a peds rotation until October (applications are usually in by september right?). Does it look bad if one or two letters are from doctors other than pediatricians? Thanks to anyone that can answer.

No, not all 3 have to be from pediatricians, but make sure that they're strong LOR. I didn't get a peds letter from my 3rd yr rotation and instead got one from a FM attending that I got to know very well and 2 peds letters from my 4th yr rotations (I got another peds letter that I tacked on after I submitted my application). That's kinda crazy that your 4th yr schedule is already set...if you're able to, I would try to fit in another peds rotation before september.

 

[africatree]

I agree with Rutgers. While it would be good to have one from a pediatric faculty member, it is way more important to have strong letters from physicians who know you well and have worked with you clinically. Only one of my letters was from pediatric faculty. The other two where from a family med doc and an IM doc.

 

[michigangirl]

To the contrary, in fact, all three letters should NOT be from pediatricians, we want to know if you did well and worked well with other physicians in other specialties. One letter from a pediatrician is sufficient, two at most.

 

[Cookie Queen]

I think it is possible to get a letter from your NICU rotation. One of my letters is from my PICU with a different doc every week, but he was impressed with me and offered. I have 4 letters - 2 pediatricians, 1 internal med, and 1 urology which seems to have gotten me plenty of interviews. I'd avoid all peds letters. I think it helps to have non-peds letters because it shows that you care and work hard even if you're not pursuing that specialty as a career.

 

[justdoit31]

I had 2 from peds at my school, 1 was a pediatrician from another school but she was my PI on my first author research project, 1 from a family med attending. Then I ended up with a letter from an away that I was on an used that on a few apps.

I had a meeting with one of true doctors from my school (our PD) to discuss my letter and where to apply, while I wasn't with him much clinically I felt the meeting helped my letter be more solid.

 

[FlowLimited]

To the contrary, in fact, all three letters should NOT be from pediatricians, we want to know if you did well and worked well with other physicians in other specialties. One letter from a pediatrician is sufficient, two at most.

I think it is possible to get a letter from your NICU rotation. One of my letters is from my PICU with a different doc every week, but he was impressed with me and offered. I have 4 letters - 2 pediatricians, 1 internal med, and 1 urology which seems to have gotten me plenty of interviews. I'd avoid all peds letters. I think it helps to have non-peds letters because it shows that you care and work hard even if you're not pursuing that specialty as a career.

I wanted to comment in case there are applicants/future applicants with only letters from pediatricians reading this thread and freaking out:

I had three letters and they were all from pediatricians. I received more interview offers than I knew what to do with. No program ever asked why I didn't have a letter from any other specialty. I matched at a well-regarded program and am very happy. The end.

In my opinion, if you get three great letters, don't stress over the diversity of the specialties.

 

[umass rower]

I think I had 2 Peds, 1 non-Peds. I think you should probably have at least 1 from a pediatrician, but they certainly don't all need to be.

 

[lockjaw]

I wanted to comment in case there are applicants/future applicants with only letters from pediatricians reading this thread and freaking out:

I had three letters and they were all from pediatricians. I received more interview offers than I knew what to do with. No program ever asked why I didn't have a letter from any other specialty. I matched at a well-regarded program and am very happy. The end.

In my opinion, if you get three great letters, don't stress over the diversity of the specialties.

Same here - I had four letters, all from pediatricians. One from my home sub-I, one from an inpatient elective, one from an outpatient elective (with an attending I had done a preceptorship with in college, so it was a more personal letter that could speak to my growth/maturity over the years), and one from an away sub-I. I also had a chair's letter that I swapped in as needed for programs that required it. I got a lot of positive comments on my letters and no one ever questioned why my letters were only from pediatricians.

I think the most important thing is to choose letter writers who will provide you with very strong letters, whether it's 1 from a pediatrician and 2-3 from other fields or all 3-4 from pediatricians. The quality of the letter matters more than the specialty of the letter writer, in my opinion. I just had a very pediatrics-heavy start to my fourth year, which is why all my letters were from pediatricians.

 

[bowlofmushypeas]

I would love to update this post.

Just to clarify, it seems like the consensus is at least 1 peds-specific letter. The remaining can basically be from whatever fields?

I'm also wondering what people thought about submitting 4 letters (not including sites requiring chairman/departmental letter). Many programs phrase it as "minimum of 3" -- however, I've heard that this really means "we'll only read 3" so sending a 4th letter doesn't make sense and can actually hurt. I was debating submitting 2 peds and 2 non-peds attending LORs, but am second guessing this now.

 

[michigangirl]

sending a 4th won't hurt, they read it or they don't. The only way it'll hurt is if 3 letters rock and 1 is so-so, but sometimes its hard to tell if that's the case since you can't see the letters. Go based on your best instinct, if you have 4 letters that likely are awesome, send them all in.

 

[clifftacopter]

I have a quick question:

So I currently have four letters, and I'm debating whether or not to send all four or just three.

One of the letters is the dept chair's letter which I suspect is basically just a compilation of feedback from peds attendings/residents and an assessment on how one did. I have to send that one so that's a no-brainer.

The other three letters I'm debating whether or not to send all of them. For two of them (one peds and one IM), I knew the attendings quite well and both stated they wrote me "very strong" letters. The third letter (peds attending) I only worked with the guy for about 4 days. He had some very nice things to say during my feedback and gave me an honors, but I'm not totally sure the letter will be as strong as the other two. Certainly not bad but possibly generic.

Should I send all three in addition to the chairman's letter or just the two that I know are very strong + the chairman's letter?