LOR question...

[SpoiledMilk]

Regarding clinical letters of recommendation.

When deciding on who to ask for a LOR, should the student's final grade in the rotation limit whether they should ask an attending in that rotation?

In other words, if a student does not Honor in the clerkship, but they believe the attending they worked with will write a strong letter, should the student still ask for the LOR?

I don't know whether the letter writer will ask to know the final grade from either the student or the program itself, and if they do, then write a letter that will not be as strong as they originally intended.

Also, what is normally sent to the letter writer other than the CV?

Thanks in advance...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Tenk]

So first, you always want a strong letter. If the person seems like a flake, probably don’t want to ask them. Secondly, you want letters from whatever specialty you are applying for (ideally) and therefore should try very hard to honor that rotation. If you don’t get honors it’s not the end of the world but you may need to find an attending you connected with and explain your situation so they can write you a good letter. Lastly, some specialties really don’t care about outside letters (like EM) so do some research on whatever specialty you are applying to before you collect a bunch of useless letters. Good luck.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I wouldn't worry at all about the grade from the rotation. Get letters from attendings that you worked with and can write good things about you, regardless of the grade that you got.

Personal statement is also generally helpful in addition to CV, so they know what your long-term goals are.

 

[Medisaint]

I agree with the advice above. In addition to CV/PS you may want to consider giving this letter writer a list of specific anecdotes from the rotation that highlight your excellent qualities--e.g. you acted as an important liaison between the care team and a difficult family and the family described you as amazingly empathetic. This can personalize the LOR more and jog the writer's memory, especially if it's been a few months.

 

[cookiegrub]

On this thought, do we need a lor from our department chair if they flake you too? Asking for a friend

 

[Medisaint]

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. Are you asking if you absolutely need to have a LOR from the department chair of the specialty to which you're applying? I would say no. The seniority of the writer is a nice perk but should not come at the expense of a strong, enthusiastic LOR.
Exceptions:
1) If by "flake" you mean "too busy to dedicate a substantial amount of time to craft your LOR", one option (if available) would be to offer to write your own LOR which can be used as a draft for the busy chair. This would ensure you start w/ a strong LOR that highlights your strengths.
2) If your department chair has significant connections to a specific program where his/her name would be recognized. Using a good (but not outstanding) LOR from the chair may be helpful. This is especially true if they can advocate for you at that program in other ways.

Ultimately if your chair writes a generic, boiler plate LOR I don't think that helps much. Curious to hear from other people.