Letters of Recommendation?

[greenbean]

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Hi
This is regarding LORs: Who are you supposed to ask? I was told to get one from Gen.medicine , Gen Surgery and Ophtho. But was wondering if this is the norm? Do the letters all need to be from core rotations(meaning IM and Gsurg) or can you use someone who knows you well but not necessarily from a core rotation?

The reason I am asking is b'c i can get a great letter from a well known anesthesia doc(not from a core) and am considering using it instead of a ok letter from a gsurg doc(from a core)

any advice would be VERY much appreciated

Thanks 🙂

 

[4424]

Hi
This is regarding LORs: Who are you supposed to ask? I was told to get one from Gen.medicine , Gen Surgery and Ophtho. But was wondering if this is the norm? Do the letters all need to be from core rotations(meaning IM and Gsurg) or can you use someone who knows you well but not necessarily from a core rotation?

The reason I am asking is b'c i can get a great letter from a well known anesthesia doc(not from a core) and am considering using it instead of a ok letter from a gsurg doc(from a core)

any advice would be VERY much appreciated

Thanks 🙂

i was told to use the best letter expected. i dont know if that's the norm but i'm just passing on what i was told...

 

[rubensan]

i was given the same advice, followed it and matched well. on one hand, yes, you do want to get the best letters you can get. on the other, this year is a bit different in that you are only allowed 3 LORs (in the past you were allowed 4). i think sf match wants at least one "core LOR." to me, this means medicine, surgery, peds and ob/gyn. if you can get a strong LOR from medicine, i would consider using your anesthesia letter along with a great one from ophtho.

Hi
This is regarding LORs: Who are you supposed to ask? I was told to get one from Gen.medicine , Gen Surgery and Ophtho. But was wondering if this is the norm? Do the letters all need to be from core rotations(meaning IM and Gsurg) or can you use someone who knows you well but not necessarily from a core rotation?

The reason I am asking is b'c i can get a great letter from a well known anesthesia doc(not from a core) and am considering using it instead of a ok letter from a gsurg doc(from a core)

any advice would be VERY much appreciated

Thanks 🙂

 

[xaelia]

This year I am using: Medicine (Cardiology), Neurology, and Ophthalmology.

I am not stressing much about not having a surgery letter because, well, I didn't get to know anyone important personally, so, whatever.

 

[7ontheline]

My advice would be to use the best letters you have as long as one (or more) is ophtho and one is a core. I don't think anyone is REALLY going to care if you have no surgery letter, because everyone knows you're useless as a surgeon to start with any way. No one expects you to have significant surgical experience or skill - that's what residency is for. Letters from other areas of medicine will just as easily prove you're hardworking, likeable, etc. If the anesthesiologist is well known and knows you well it can only help you.

 

[Ophtho24]

I would agree with most of what is posted. I was typically only asked about my ophtho letter on interviews. I did the one medicine, one surgery, and one ophtho thing last year, and would probably do two ophtho if I had it to do over, just because I don't think anybody that interviews you will really have any clue who the surgeon or IM guy even is. But if your letters are from academic ophtho a lot of people will know your letter writer.

 

[Spyder007]

Hi
This is regarding LORs: Who are you supposed to ask? I was told to get one from Gen.medicine , Gen Surgery and Ophtho. But was wondering if this is the norm? Do the letters all need to be from core rotations(meaning IM and Gsurg) or can you use someone who knows you well but not necessarily from a core rotation?

The reason I am asking is b'c i can get a great letter from a well known anesthesia doc(not from a core) and am considering using it instead of a ok letter from a gsurg doc(from a core)

any advice would be VERY much appreciated

Thanks 🙂

Just advice that our PD gave us. He told us that as long as one letter is from ophtho, the others don't matter quite that much as long they are good, because chances are the committee has no idea who Dr. Medicine/Surgery Bigwig is at your school. I personally had two ophtho, and one internal med. from my core rotation. So you definitely don't need Gen. Surgery. And as another poster said, I without fail would only be asked about my ophtho letters if I was asked at all, though personally I felt my medicine letter was at the least my second strongest letter.

Good luck.

 

[sisyphus22]

is a strong letter from a medicine chairman better than a weaker one from a not-that-well-known ophthalmologist? Assuming the other two letters are from surgery and ophtho and are reasonably strong. The not-well-known ophthalmologist is someone I recently started research with - but he doesn't actually interact with me that much. On the one hand, the medicine letter is likely to be better written, but obviously programs are more likely to be interested in the ophthalmologist's letter, especially since I am doing research with him.

Also, are we no longer allowed to send in a late fourth letter?