LOR's and Personal Statement

[kev2180]

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How many LOR's should from psychiatrists when applying for Psych residency?
Would having a good Surgery or Family Medicine letter be useful when applying for Psych?

How long is the typical personal statement for Psych? Would you recommend having a longer or shorter statement? How much emphasis do programs put on it?

 

[2tall]

1. At least one from a psychiatrist...

2. Good letters in general are useful. Most here would likely say...

medicine letter > surgery/peds/obgyn letters > family medicine letter...

I, myself, had two psychs and fammed.

3a. In general, a full one-page letter is preferrable. I forget the font and font size program directors see...maybe someone will jump in with those details. 3b. The personal statement is probably not one of the top three factors program directors consider when granting an interview. However you shouldn't overlook it. It should be well-written, clear, concise and personal. I would assume that only a poorly written letter would hurt you.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I posted this 2 years ago re: personal statements.
It probably is not a key issue in you getting an interview unless you're a "numerically marginal" candidate with a really compelling personal statement. However, it is the only real example we have of your writing skills and ability to formulate a coherent essay in the English language--so it can end up getting factored into our evals from interview day and affecting your rankability!

 

[kev2180]

thanks for all your help

 

[masterofmonkeys]

I had 3 psych letters, peds letter, and FM letter, that I kind of picked between depending on the institution.

But, from my meandering down the interview trail all over the east, west, and flyover country, I had more psych letters than most. I don't know that it helped that much.

From what I've seen and experienced, most people who go into psych choose it in the third year. PDs are well aware of this, and so wouldn't expect a multitude of letters.

 

[Red Beard]

BUMP

I found this thread in a search, trying to find out the answer to the following:

Would a single decent psych letter and 2 glowing medicine letters plus honors in 3rd year psych be sufficient to have a shot at programs that one is not going to rotate/audition at?

I am currently a 4th year that was very attracted to both psych and IM, chose an IM heavy 4th year schedule, and am now having second thoughts....

 

[masterofmonkeys]

Red Beard, I would think that would be fine.

As a lot of us have mentioned, most people don't get turned on to psych until their third year clerkship, even at many top programs. It's not like ortho or ENT or something where by the time you're a fourth year, you've spent three years schmoozing with the various faculty members in said department.

And a medicine letter is ALWAYS good from any specialty.

I actually hesitated to mention how many psych letters I had as that is definitely above the norm. But that's cuz I knew I wanted to do psych since before I could drive. Of the 14 people in my med school class who went psych, 2 knew it going into med school, one had it on their differential, and the other 11 decided after their third year clerkship, about half of those early in 4th year.

Consider Med/psych programs as well, Michael Rack on the board here I believe did one. I seriously considered them as well.