Letters of recommendation

[medlyfe19]

Hi SDN members, I just wanted to see your thoughts for letters of recommendation, I am applying IM.

I know ERAS opens in September, I currently do have three letters but only one of them is a "strong" letter. I have two rotations coming up that I think would hopefully result in stronger letters. However, the first rotation ends 9/21 and the other ends 10/19. I was wondering if waiting on these letter writers for LOR would take too long or if I should wait for these writers instead of submitting those that are not as strong letters? I am not very familiar with expectation of residency programs with timing of these letters. I appreciate your help!

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[Adjet]

You should have 2-3 LORs sent to programs in addition to the department letter by the time programs receive the MSPE on October 1st for a complete application. You should have at least one sent by September 15th when you submit your ERAS application to programs. If I were you, I would assign the "strong" letter to every program you apply to on the 15th and wait to see if you can obtain a second strong one from your upcoming rotation. If your writer can upload the letter by the end of September, you can add that one and be fine for most programs (some programs require 3 from rotations however). If not, you're stuck with using the ones you have. You may add letters after October 1st, but there's no guarantee they'll be read. For the above reasons, it probably won't be practical to get a letter from the rotation that ends on 10/19.

 

[medpack87]

I agree with the first answer. Apply sending the required documentation and your strong letter. Throw in one of the other letters too. Once the other "stronger" letters come out you can put them in and the programs will receive the updated application.

 

[gutonc]

Whoops...missed this one when rounding up all the LOR threads. Just going to close it now. Asked and answered.