LOR question.

[sonofva]

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i don't know if anyone can chime in, but i had my pediatrics rotations first during 3rd year. there wasn't any problems on them, but i was just getting adjusted to rotations and even though I got good evaluations/grades, i don't think i did well enough to ask for a LOR.

i have two more recent rotations that I absolutely blasted. however one was gsurg, and the other hospital medicine...i will try to get one on my scheduled pediatric away rotations. but will these non-peds lors be good? or should i go way back and ask my peds preceptors? thanks.

 

[Rutgers06]

i don't know if anyone can chime in, but i had my pediatrics rotations first during 3rd year. there wasn't any problems on them, but i was just getting adjusted to rotations and even though I got good evaluations/grades, i don't think i did well enough to ask for a LOR.

i have two more recent rotations that I absolutely blasted. however one was gsurg, and the other hospital medicine...i will try to get one on my scheduled pediatric away rotations. but will these non-peds lors be good? or should i go way back and ask my peds preceptors? thanks.

That's fine, all your letters don't need to be from peds ppl. It's more important that you have strong letter of recommendations. The only 3rd yr letter that I used was from FM and everything worked out well.

 

[Cookie Queen]

I agree with the person above. I applied with 2 peds letters (one from third yr clerkship), one internal med, and one urology. And I don't know how your school does things, but our school will accept as many letters as we want, then we can choose which to use. You could always ask for ones from your third yr rotation, then if you get better ones on this other rotation use those. You need some peds but it's always better to have strong letters from other fields than all peds but some mediocre.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

Did you keep in contact with any of your peds preceptors from your core clerkship?

 

[survivordo]

If you're still in contact than I would ask. For anyone reading this that is just beginning clerkships, get all of the letters you can! Better to have a choice! You typically are discouraged from reading them, but I know our school would at least STRONGLY suggest which ones we should use... You may be surprised who rights you a very strong letter, sometimes it is not the people who you think like you the most.

Survivor DO

 

[GoSpursGo]

Definitely use the people who knew you better and will write a stronger letter. You can still get a couple of letters from your upcoming rotations to get peds letters, but having one or even two from a non-peds person is fine.

Agree with the sentiment above that if there are any MS2s out there getting ready to start clinics reading this, STRONGLY consider asking for a letter from any attending you feel you worked well with in ANY field you think there is at least a chance you might go into. Doesn't mean you should ask for a letter from every single attending you ever work with, but if you have a particularly good connection it doesn't hurt to ask, and they'll likely respond better if you ask during your rotation than they will 10 months later.

 

[Gifted Hands]

On a similar note, I had no idea I wanted to do peds and did pretty good in my rotation (HP) but did it an away site where I was discouraged from getting LORs. For some odd reason, since I decided I wanted peds, I didn't get any LORs from my 3rd year... despite having some honors. I don't have a strong enough relationship with any attendings to ask for a LOR. Will it be weird not having a LOR from my 3rd year?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Will it be weird not having a LOR from my 3rd year?

Not really. I actually think most of my classmates didn't get letters from their core rotation, and most get the majority from their sub-I's and electives. As long as you have 3 letters, it doesn't matter when/from where you got them.

 

[sonofva]

On a similar note, I had no idea I wanted to do peds and did pretty good in my rotation (HP) but did it an away site where I was discouraged from getting LORs. For some odd reason, since I decided I wanted peds, I didn't get any LORs from my 3rd year... despite having some honors. I don't have a strong enough relationship with any attendings to ask for a LOR. Will it be weird not having a LOR from my 3rd year?

i feel you man. i thought i was going to be a surgeon so i scheduled all my peds rotations first so i could get them out of the way...whoops...😱