LOR from resident

[Crash88]

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What do you think of a LoR from a resident MD? I didn't ask- she offered me one. Are they considered "too young" or something?

 

[alwaysaangel]

What do you think of a LoR from a resident MD? I didn't ask- she offered me one. Are they considered "too young" or something?

What is your relationship to her - thats whats important. No they're not too young.

 

[Crash88]

=ok

 

[squirrelking]

sounds like a great thing! you can always send it in after you send out your secondaries, or even after you interview to win over your schools. Have her write it!

 

[Vihsadas]

Yeah, it's a good thing to have. Go for it.

 

[metalgearHMN]

Sounds like a really good LOR, I would definitely use it, much better than one from a prof you had for 1 quarter.


you lucky #$%@#%

How did you get that OR Tech job?

 

[Crash88]

=

 

[muscles]

LOR's from residents are not really looked upon as highly as letters from attendings. Residents haven't had as much experience with students and they haven't written as many letters as experienced attendings. When applying for residency, we were always cautioned to NOT submit a LOR from a resident. It's nothing personal, but compared to an experienced attending, who knows how to craft a letter and include all the "buzzwords" that will make you stand out as someone schools should really consider..., well, residents just aren't that good.

My $0.02.

 

[Crash88]

Makes sense muscles.
But can someone comment whether it would be ok as one of the letters of recommendation for medical school? Though a resident may not be experienced enough to comment on someone's ability as a resident, would they be qualified enough to comment on someone's ability in med school? I mean it won't be looked on as highly as a letter from an attending but would it be disregarded since it came from a resident? For all I know she may just say she's an MD and leave it at that- but in case she mentions that she's a resident, would it discredit the LoR?

I don't want to seem like I'm pushing my own cause here- it's not like this recommendation is 100% essential or anything, although it could be important

 

[Hemichordate]

.

 

[swpm]

When applying for residency, we were always cautioned to NOT submit a LOR from a resident.

I agree, but the bar is a lot lower for med school applications. The applicant pool is much larger and weaker than that for residency, and I'd guess that adcoms would be thrilled to read a letter that wasn't an impersonal paragraph from a basic sci prof that said "This dude got an A in my class, he seems like a good guy."

The key is for the letter to be personal. It has to demonstrate that the writer actually knows the applicant, and can comment favorably on subjects the adcom cares about. Has the applicant been exposed to medicine in some non-trivial way? Is he pleasant to work with? Did he perform his job in an exceptional manner? What makes him stand out? A resident can do this.

In this case, I think a well written letter from a resident would benefit an application. I would ask the writer to refrain from identifying herself as a resident, as there's nothing to gain from it. Simply signing it

xxxx MD
Dept of Anesthesiology
Univ of Whatever, Wherever

If the adcom does some followup to actually talk to that resident, no big deal. At least they're interested enough in the applicant to try to contact a reference.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

LOR's from residents are not really looked upon as highly as letters from attendings. Residents haven't had as much experience with students and they haven't written as many letters as experienced attendings. When applying for residency, we were always cautioned to NOT submit a LOR from a resident. It's nothing personal, but compared to an experienced attending, who knows how to craft a letter and include all the "buzzwords" that will make you stand out as someone schools should really consider..., well, residents just aren't that good.

My $0.02.

I think that in applying to med school having any MD write a letter pertaining to clinical work is good. I would venture that the vast majority of med school LORs are written by PhDs from the applicant's undergrad, so having an MD who can comment on the clinical side of things will add value to an application that has a few other LORs from the typical science prof who can comment on the applicant's academic abilities. It will help to make your LORs well rounded. Just my thoughts..........