Letter of Recommendation "power" question

[m_taha]

Hey guys,

I'm an IMG applying for the 2020 Match. I have very little USCE. As a graduate (2018) they're mostly observerships and externships (< 12 weeks)
In terms of a LoR...
I have a few LoR from doctors who have/are:
1 - Graduated from home country but did residency and fellowship in the US (board certified), but currently practice back home - guaranteed good LoR
2 - Not a US board certified physician but is head of training and residency program in a major hospital back home - guaranteed good LoR
3 - U.S. physician who I briefly worked with as an observer (not hands on) but in a good institution - not guaranteed good LoR
4 - U.S. physician who I plan on briefly working with as an extern (+/- hands on - you know how these things go) - not guaranteed good LoR
5 - Canadian physician not recent but good LoR in specialty

What is the order of "power" of these LoR?

Because I only get to assign 3 LoR to programs, I have no idea which to favor over the other!

Let me know what you think!

Thanks in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[differentiating]

What specialty are you applying into? Are 1 & 2 also in your specialty of choice? Also, you can assign up to 4 letters to a program in ERAS.

4 is probably going to be your most important letter, given that it's a US letter and can potentially reflect more than a pure observership would. I'd focus on trying to knock that externship out of the park. My guess is that 1 would be the next useful letter, and then 3 & 2 in some order as an additional US LOR and an additional positive LOR. 5 sounds like it'd be weakest if it's old & not from a US physician, imo.

 

[m_taha]

What specialty are you applying into? Are 1 & 2 also in your specialty of choice? Also, you can assign up to 4 letters to a program in ERAS.

4 is probably going to be your most important letter, given that it's a US letter and can potentially reflect more than a pure observership would. I'd focus on trying to knock that externship out of the park. My guess is that 1 would be the next useful letter, and then 3 & 2 in some order as an additional US LOR and an additional positive LOR. 5 sounds like it'd be weakest if it's old & not from a US physician, imo.

Hey!

Thanks for replying!

I'm applying to pediatrics and child neurology. 1 is by non-pediatric attendings but mention my interest in pediatrics and child neurology. 2 is by a pediatrician.

Thank you so much for the advice!

 

[differentiating]

Hey!

Thanks for replying!

I'm applying to pediatrics and child neurology. 1 is by non-pediatric attendings but mention my interest in pediatrics and child neurology. 2 is by a pediatrician.

Thank you so much for the advice!

I don’t know too many details about the app process for either, but I imagine you’d definitely want 1-2 pedi neurology letters for your pedi neuro app and 1-2 peds letters for your peds app, since that seems to be fairly standard across specialties. As an IMG, having at least 1 US letter for each would likely help as well. 1 letter from an unrelated specialty is fine (I had 1 good but unrelated letter myself), but I’d think you’d want the majority to support your application in that given field.

Best of luck in figuring out your letter situation.

 

[pufferflip]

Hi guys - IMG here as well. Had a question about LORs...I’ve got one from IM USCE and one from peds USCE. I think they’re both specific to their respective specialty. My question is how terrible is it if I send a peds specific letter to IM and vice versa? I wanted to use my US LORs because they’re more weighted

 

[Ironheme]

Ask your letter writers to change it to a more generic, or even better, specialty specific. Otherwise, they may think you're using them as a back up.

 

[pufferflip]

Thanks! They are both specialty specific. So I’m guessing it would be bad to use the IM specific one to peds? I basically want to use both US attendings letter and to have USCE to show for.