LoR Question

[syncmaster]

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Hello SDN, I'm applying this cycle and I just have a couple questions.

Just a little background about me: I'm an allopathic US med school grad and I recently changed specialty into Emergency Medicine and thus I am currently on my M4 EM rotation for the month of September. I have done 1 EM rotation my M3 year and received a "Pass".

1. Regarding the letters of recommendation, I have:
-Chair of EM (never rotated with him, he writes one for all students interested in EM)
-PhD I did my EM research with
-EM attending from my M3 EM rotation - my attending told me he'd write me a strong letter but I ended up with a "Pass" for this class.
-EM attending I plan on getting at the end of my EM elective this month of September
-IM attending
-CT Surgery attending
So my question is, since most programs only want 3 or 4 letters of recommendation, should I apply by September 15'th and submit only the letters I currently have available (if so, which ones?), or should I submit one fewer than the required letter of recommendations and submit the letter of recommendation I'll get this month from my M4 EM rotation sometime after September 15'th?

2. Since I want to show the programs that I can do better than a "Pass" on my EM rotation, how can I go about showing my "hopefully improved" grade from my M4 EM rotation since it won't be released until middle of October?

3. I see that some programs require USMLE Step 2 on the Frieda website. I plan on taking mine at the end of November. Should I not even apply to these programs or does the requirement mean that I must have passed my Step 2 sometime before I enroll next year?

Thank you so much for the suggestions.

 

[mvenus929]

1. You should probably include the letter from this month's rotation, but I'm not sure which you should keep as I'm not going into EM.

2. Talk about it during interviews? Have really strong letters?

3. Double check Frieda (or better yet, the program websites). Some programs require that you have Step 2 prior to rank listing, and some require it before they'll offer you an interview. If you're taking it at the end of November, you'll make the rank list deadline no problem, but you may not have your score back in time to get interview based on it.