LOR from other specialties

[ferri07]

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I have a question about this coming match season. I have excellent LORs from surgeons, and one from Peds ER. I am somewhat atypical in that I like surgery,ER and internal medicine a lot. I am applying to surgery and Internal Medicine because even though I am crazy to like surgery, I can't help but try to protect my possibilities of matching. I know it doesn't look good that I would apply to 2 different specialties but I have to stay realistic and keep my options open, since I am not crazy enough to go for a prelim spot in surgery for a year, and then...?
I have 6 months of US clinical experience only in surgery and in peds ER, which obviously is the reason why I don't have IM LORs. I only have LORs from my country, and from what I have heard so far, they are useless.
So, should I apply with 1 LOR from surgery, 1 from Peds ER, and 1 from IM (either from my country or one from a Dr. in the US that I personally know), or should I apply with my country IM LOR's?
I have mid 220's on step 1, and step2 and just graduated.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks😕

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I have a question about this coming match season. I have excellent LORs from surgeons, and one from Peds ER. I am somewhat atypical in that I like surgery,ER and internal medicine a lot. I am applying to surgery and Internal Medicine because even though I am crazy to like surgery, I can't help but try to protect my possibilities of matching. I know it doesn't look good that I would apply to 2 different specialties but I have to stay realistic and keep my options open, since I am not crazy enough to go for a prelim spot in surgery for a year, and then...?
I have 6 months of US clinical experience only in surgery and in peds ER, which obviously is the reason why I don't have IM LORs. I only have LORs from my country, and from what I have heard so far, they are useless.
So, should I apply with 1 LOR from surgery, 1 from Peds ER, and 1 from IM (either from my country or one from a Dr. in the US that I personally know), or should I apply with my country IM LOR's?
I have mid 220's on step 1, and step2 and just graduated.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks😕

Just to confirm your suspicions, a prelim year in surgery is usually a path to nowhere.

US letters are much more useful than non-US letters. A letter from a "doctor you know" but never worked with is probably harmful -- what could they really tell me about your clinical skills? Having no IM letters is also going to look funny, unless you somehow explain it in your PS.

So, include your US surgery and US peds ED letters for sure. Then add an IM letter from your home program. Add a third US letter if possible. Then try to spin this in your PS, without saying "well, I really want surgery but I'll settle for IM". Good luck!

 

[ferri07]

Thanks a lot, I'll see how I can explain it in the PS, I guess once I interview it's easier to explain that I didn't do any Medicine clerkships here, and maybe they will undersand.

Will programs ever know that you are applying to both specialties? Other than the "I saw you last week with the surgery group 😱".

I honestly don't know how I can say that I am only applying to medicine if they ask.