Letters of Recommendation

[MrDocMD]

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All my attendings know which field I'm applying to and my letter writers have tailored my LORs for that field. My question is, what if I don't match? How can I use those letters when applying to a different field? Should I have told them to write generic letters?

 

[gutonc]

All my attendings know which field I'm applying to and my letter writers have tailored my LORs for that field. My question is, what if I don't match? How can I use those letters when applying to a different field? Should I have told them to write generic letters?

No. But in the event that you don't match (and you'll probably have a good idea of this well ahead of the actual Match) you can ask for more generic LORs then. That said, if your LORs are for IM or Peds and you wind up SOAPing for FM (or vice versa) it's not that big of a deal to use a LOR for a different but related specialty.

 

[molten]

No. But in the event that you don't match (and you'll probably have a good idea of this well ahead of the actual Match) you can ask for more generic LORs then. That said, if your LORs are for IM or Peds and you wind up SOAPing for FM (or vice versa) it's not that big of a deal to use a LOR for a different but related specialty.

By using an IM LOR for FM, aren't you essentially letting them know that FM's not your first choice?

 

[gutonc]

By using an IM LOR for FM, aren't you essentially letting them know that FM's not your first choice?

If it's in SOAP and you're applying for FM, they're already pretty sure FM's not your first choice.