LORs and Fellows

[fizzle]

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What is the best course of action to take if you've worked extensively with a fellow and feel that he/she would be able to write you a strong letter? I understand that residencies are looking for letters from attendings, but I've been barely able to get any consistent face-time with an attending in my surgery rotation, while I work with the fellow every day; the fellows pretty much run the daily morning rounds and operations, while the attendings are usually absent or just drop in for a few minutes.

I've heard that you could get a LOR written by the fellow and co-signed by an attending, but is that really a viable option, or is it viewed as inferior? What are my other options? Also, does it matter if the fellow will have finished his/her training by the time I apply?

 

[gutonc]

There's no "good" answer to this but, IMHO, the best option is to have the fellow write the letter and submit it to th attending you worked with the most and have him/her edit, sign and submit it. I would guess that ~25% of residency LORs are ghostwritten (this probably increases to 50% for fellowship and 80+% thereafter) so neither the fellow or attending is likely to bat an eye at the request.

 

[mlw03]

What is the best course of action to take if you've worked extensively with a fellow and feel that he/she would be able to write you a strong letter? I understand that residencies are looking for letters from attendings, but I've been barely able to get any consistent face-time with an attending in my surgery rotation, while I work with the fellow every day; the fellows pretty much run the daily morning rounds and operations, while the attendings are usually absent or just drop in for a few minutes.

I've heard that you could get a LOR written by the fellow and co-signed by an attending, but is that really a viable option, or is it viewed as inferior? What are my other options? Also, does it matter if the fellow will have finished his/her training by the time I apply?

I'd ask, as you suggested. Worst is they say no. No one will know who really wrote the letter. A good (not just positive, but actually saying useful things) ghost-written letter is better than a generic letter.