Letter of Recommendation From Unrelated Specialty

[weather23]

I know most people say to get 2 ophthalmology LORs and 1 internal medicine LOR for residency applications. However, I know that I can obtain a very, very strong letter of recommendation from a faculty member in a non-ophthalmology, non-core specialty.

On the flip side, I could also obtain a solid LOR from an IM faculty but I am confident it would not be as strong as the aforementioned one.

Therefore, I am wondering what you guys think the best course of action would be, since SFMatch recommends getting a letter from a core rotation.

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[increscence]

What is the academic title of each letter writer?

 

[weather23]

Non-IM faculty (better letter): Chair and associate dean
IM faculty: Assistant professor

 

[increscence]

If forced to choose, I would go with the non-IM faculty member.

Another option would be to obtain letters from both and to send one with your SF Match application, then send the second one to schools as an "update" (like a nudge to be like, hey, remember me? I have more stuff to share with you!).

 

[FutureEyeGuy]

SF Match gives the recommendation, but it's not a requirement. I actually had 3 ophthalmology letters. So I think if I was in your position, I'd ask for a letter from the non-IM faculty member. The stronger the letter in general, the better!

 

[cubsrule4e]

I know most people say to get 2 ophthalmology LORs and 1 internal medicine LOR for residency applications. However, I know that I can obtain a very, very strong letter of recommendation from a faculty member in a non-ophthalmology, non-core specialty.

On the flip side, I could also obtain a solid LOR from an IM faculty but I am confident it would not be as strong as the aforementioned one.

Therefore, I am wondering what you guys think the best course of action would be, since SFMatch recommends getting a letter from a core rotation.

I had the standard 2 ophtho letters, and i got my third one from a Plastic Surgery rotation, as it was outside of ophtho, but still relevant as at the time I was partly interested in oculoplastics. So you could consider something similar to that.... if you have underlying interests in things like neuro, rheum, plastics, etc you could get a letter there as long as you know itd be a good one and still have it tie into ophtho.

 

[weather23]

Thank you for the responses. This is all very helpful.