LOR Dilemma for Peds - Help!

[Gifted Hands]

Hey everybody,

So I am preparing to apply for a peds residency this year. I had no clue I wanted to do peds until after I fell in love with it during my rotation at an outside hospital, so I didn't get any LORs from my 3rd year. I then took a year off for research...

I met with my advisor (the assistant PD) recently and told her I had 3 letters: 1 from my research year, 1 from my peds subi and 1 from an elective I just completed. I assumed I could get 1 more clinical LOR from mt subi and I would be great... but my advisor dropped a bomb on me. She said my 4th letter should be from a non-peds attending. It's been almost 2 years since I took a non-peds rotation. I did get honors in my medicine rotation, but I'm concerned that the attending won't really remember and will give me a weak letter because so much time has passed.

Has anyone ever heard this that you should have 1 non-peds letter? Do you think it's worth tracking down this letter? I live in an area with many competitive residencies so I want to remain as competitive as possible. Any advice appreciated!

Any advice appreciated?

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[mvenus929]

I'm struggling with getting a third letter right now, mostly because of my school's stringent deadlines, but I've gotten some feedback from various people that might be of some use to you.

- Our PD says she loves to see letters from outside of Peds, because it shows that you can work with non-pediatricians. But, she doesn't hold it against you if you only have peds letters.
- I went to my adviser with my dilemma, and am currently on a peds rotation. She said she would rather I go with an additional peds letter (totaling 3 clinical peds letters) than one from a core clerkship I did several months ago. I imagine that since you're even further from 3rd year that this would apply even more to you.

Consequently, my advice to my little sibs is going to be along the lines of 'if you really clicked with an attending during third year, ask them if they'd write you a letter regardless of what you go into, so they can have a draft when you need the letter up to a year later.'

 

[SP1977]

I think a strong peds letter would be more valuable than a weaker IM letter, for sure.

 

[lockjaw]

I think a strong peds letter would be more valuable than a weaker IM letter, for sure.

Agreed. I think the content of the letter absolutely matters more than the specialty of the letter writer. A letter from an attending from 2 years ago who doesn't remember any specifics of your rotation will only be able to write you a very generic form letter. Definitely ask a recent attending who can write you a strong letter.

For the record, I submitted four letters, all from pediatrics, all from 4th year rotations. Got more than a dozen interview offers and matched at my top choice. I think you'll be fine.

 

[Gifted Hands]

Thanks everybody! I feel much better about it now.