LORs for Anesthesia Residency

[Harrison486]

Hey everyone. I'm a current MSIV planning to submit my application for anesthesiology next month. I have a quick question regarding LORs.

Today, I met with a surgeon, who is both the chief of general surgery and PD of the surgical residency, to discuss a letter of recommendation. While willing to write a letter on my behalf, the surgeon suggested that his letter would be more or less worthless, as most programs would expect all 3 submitted letters to be from within the field of anesthesiology. Is this true?

I was originally planning on submitting 2 anesthesia letters (2 from either the chair, PD, or assistant PD), along with 1 letter from medicine and 1 letter from surgery. Is this not the correct strategy?

What is the current thought on what type of letters programs most appreciate or want to see?

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[pgy13]

I like to see 1-2 letters from anesthesia at most. A surgery or medicine clerkship letter is definitely a good addition.

 

[PeepsLove]

I had 3 anesthesia letters. 2 MD and 1 DO (I'm in a DO program). The other letter was from a pediatrician. I think it is good to have something other than anesthesia as well to show that you are well rounded.

 

[soon2b]

I've never heard of a program wanting all letters to be from within the same specialty. In my opinion that is dumb. We are medical students and upon graduating medical school should be well rounded. If I was a PD I would want to see that reflected in my applicants letters. If all they had were letters from anesthesiologists I would think they don't know jack about squat when it comes to other areas of medicine. You're not supposed to be an expert in any field upon graduating med school. That's for residency. Now, I do think your fellowship application should contain 3 letters all from anesthesiologists because at that point you are supposed to be an expert in that field.

 

[Harrison486]

Right now, I have (or am waiting for) 5 LORs in total:
1) IM - Cardiologist
2) Surgery - Chief of General Surgery and Surgery Program Director
3) Anesthesia - Program Director
4) Anesthesia - Assistant Program Director
5) Anesthesia - Department Chair

If these letters are all of the same "strength" theoretically, what 4 should I use?

Is my original plan of 1 medicine letter + 1 surgery letter + 2 anesthesia letters okay?

Or would I be better off sending 3 anesthesia letters + 1 other?

 

[soon2b]

Right now, I have (or am waiting for) 5 LORs in total:
1) IM - Cardiologist
2) Surgery - Chief of General Surgery and Surgery Program Director
3) Anesthesia - Program Director
4) Anesthesia - Assistant Program Director
5) Anesthesia - Department Chair

If these letters are all of the same "strength" theoretically, what 4 should I use?

Is my original plan of 1 medicine letter + 1 surgery letter + 2 anesthesia letters okay?

Or would I be better off sending 3 anesthesia letters + 1 other?

My opinion would be use the IM and Surgery letters plus 2 anesthesia letters. I say this because it would make you seem well rounded academically. Additionally, I think a strong IM would be good for you because it could demonstrate your overall clinical aptitude and judgement. I got a letter from my school's IM program director and feel like it's my strongest one. I've got a good letter from an anesthesiologist as well but he's not in academics (did a month with him at a private hospital). It sounds like you are really set with letters, especially having letters from the program chair and director in anesthesiology. Congrats!

 

[Harrison486]

I apologize for bringing this up again but my situation has changed a little bit.

The letter I had from the PD of Surgery turned out to only be about 5 sentences long. While it was supposedly a good letter of recommendation, I don't think I will be sending it in as that length cannot indicate anything good.

As I have already submitted my application, I sent in 3 letters so far. I have sent 1 IM letter from a cardiologist I worked with during my IM rotation, a letter from my anesthesia PD, and a letter from my anesthesia assistant-PD.

I am currently waiting for 2 more letters to come in. 1 from a GI doc who ran my IM rotation and 1 from the chairman of my anesthesia department. Of these final 2, which would be better to round out my letters of rec?

Thank you.

 

[michigangirl]

Before I got to your latest message about the 5 sentence surgery letter, my first impression was that if that guy was telling you his letter probably wouldn't matter, it's because he was indirectly telling you his ACTUAL letter would be worthless.

Go with the letters you feel are strongest. As an interviewer, I understand that you are a MEDICAL STUDENT-- hence, you have had very limited time to get to know multiple anesthesiologists well enough to get a strong letter. At max in the last two years most students have gotten 2 months-- and with the nature of anesthesiology, it's unlikely you spent a whole month with the same person. This is why letters from rotations like IM and peds, where you have exposure to one attending for at least some extended period of time, are great. There is no 'rule' that you need more than one letter from an anesthesiologist, let alone 3. I can guarantee you that if you sent in three anesthesia letters and nothing else, it would seem a little suspect to me. That being said, unless you are tight with the anesthesia chair and know that letter is going to rock, I would send the GI letter in if you worked with that person closely and think it will be strong.

Good luck!

 

[Harrison486]

Thanks Michigangirl!