LORs

[Neuromonster]

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So, i will be applying for neuro this upcoming match. I come from a small US school where we don't even have an official neuro clerkship. So far, i've only been able to secure one LOR from a neurologist (I think it will be a really good letter though). Would that be enough as far as LORs from the field are concerned? Do I need to find more neurologists to write letters? Based on what I stated above should I try to submit 4 letters to all programs as oppose to the standard 3?

Thanks much

 

[darksideone]

So, i will be applying for neuro this upcoming match. I come from a small US school where we don't even have an official neuro clerkship. So far, i've only been able to secure one LOR from a neurologist (I think it will be a really good letter though). Would that be enough as far as LORs from the field are concerned? Do I need to find more neurologists to write letters? Based on what I stated above should I try to submit 4 letters to all programs as oppose to the standard 3?

Thanks much

We all think our LOR will be very good. Otherwise why ask the attending to write a poor one?

You should be fine with 1 neuro letter but 2 would be better. Also, try and get a psych or PMR letter if you are able to. If you are doing a categorical program an IM letter would look great as well.

 

[bustbones26]

We all think our LOR will be very good. Otherwise why ask the attending to write a poor one?

You should be fine with 1 neuro letter but 2 would be better. Also, try and get a psych or PMR letter if you are able to. If you are doing a categorical program an IM letter would look great as well.

I agree!! If all you can muster is one letter, try to obtain remaining letters from medicine based services.

In the past, I have seen applicants with very good letters from ortho or neurosurgeons. That only said one thing to me, "I really wanted to do ortho or neurosurgery but am not competitive enough so I will settle for neurology".

If you submit one letter from neurology and others from IM, family med, PM&R, psych, that just say, "I only did one neurology rotation so I don't know many neurologist personally, so I asked a few others". Make sure the "other services" know your intentions as they can still write good letters. A good IM hospitalist can write whether they think you are an *****hole or have to potential to be a good consultant/colleague someday.

Nobody will ever really write you a bad letter, but some might add things that are transparent. For example, I once saw an LOR for an applicant that was high speed, 4.0 GPA, almost perfect scores on USMLE etc. LOR quoted (paraphrase) "He is a very intelligent individual and will discuss his vast knowledge with anybody that will listen".

Or, they might just write a "dry" letter. "Yeah, I worked with Bob, he is a great guy, let him be a resident".

 

[doctorr9]

Hi bustbones,
My LoR authir wrote that I performed reasonably well during rotation.
I am thinking should i use this LOR? Please help

 

[typhoonegator]

Hi bustbones,
My LoR authir wrote that I performed reasonably well during rotation.
I am thinking should i use this LOR? Please help

It depends, but if the overall tone of the letter can be summed up by "he did OK", then no, you probably should not use it.

 

[HarveyCushing]

Wise words from the man.

Most programs request three letters of recommendation (although more are allowable, it is typically not helpful to load down your application with extraneous LORs). So, who should you choose? The most common solution is to submit two letters from neurologists and one from anyone else you think would supply you with a strong recommendation.

In the past, some residency programs required a letter from the chair of the neurology department at the applicant's medical school. While this is no longer mandatory, many applicants feel that a chair's letter greatly strengthens their application, so you may wish to ask your chair for a letter. This is more or less thought of as part of a chair's job, so don't feel like you are imposing too greatly. It is also common to request a letter from the attending you had the best relationship with during your neurology clerkship.

No matter who you choose, be prepared. Bring a CV, a transcript, and the latest draft of your personal statement to your meeting with the letter writer (and schedule an appointment, don't just try to catch them after rounds). You should give your writers at least a month, preferably more, to work on your letter.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=2488830&postcount=4

 

[rockydoc]

I have a couple questions about LORs.

1. I have heard conflicting advice about the necessity of a letter from IM even for advanced positions. Some say you "NEED" IM and should NOT submit 3-4 neurology letters even if you could, because you need to show diversity or something. Does not make much intuitive sense to me, but now Im worried that even if I can get 4 solid neuro letters, I should drop one of them for an IM letter.

2. I also come from a small school without a large neurology department, and more than one of my neuro letters may be coming from my 4th year neuro externships. Someone told me that I should NOT submit more than one letter from any school but my own in case that gives the impression that I am secretly only interested in that other program (where I got multiple letters from). Is that true?

 

[Mattchiavelli]

honestly I think it's becoming too big of a deal at this point. You can really only
"play the game" so much in terms of LORs, personal statement, etc and it really becomes moot in the sense of if you have 4 neurology LORs one program will think that's awesome and ambitious and another will think it's too much. You can't really tell which will be which.

heres my 2 cents-
-as long as you have at least two neurology letters that are good you'll be fine
-one program might like that you have a "neurology adjascent" field for a letter like psych/PMR/neurosurgery, another might think you couldn't decide between psych/PMR/neurosurgery so you have to use your best judgement
-if you submit your letters and interview and don't match where you really wanted, maybe they didn't like you as a person, no letter combo would have fixed that, and you move on

you are starting to come accross as waaaay to anxious about this and if that comes across as an applicant either in interviews or calling the program 432094 times with questions or whatever it will hurt you more than any letter combo. I had a med student like this last month and despite the fact that he was a good student him being so high maintenence made more work for me and if he brought that attitude/energy to interviews I wouldn't rank him highly mainly because it would be extremely annoying to work with him in the future

So to sum it all up, chill out, you will be fine

 

[rockydoc]

honestly I think it's becoming too big of a deal at this point. You can really only
"play the game" so much in terms of LORs, personal statement, etc and it really becomes moot in the sense of if you have 4 neurology LORs one program will think that's awesome and ambitious and another will think it's too much. You can't really tell which will be which.

heres my 2 cents-
-as long as you have at least two neurology letters that are good you'll be fine
-one program might like that you have a "neurology adjascent" field for a letter like psych/PMR/neurosurgery, another might think you couldn't decide between psych/PMR/neurosurgery so you have to use your best judgement
-if you submit your letters and interview and don't match where you really wanted, maybe they didn't like you as a person, no letter combo would have fixed that, and you move on

you are starting to come accross as waaaay to anxious about this and if that comes across as an applicant either in interviews or calling the program 432094 times with questions or whatever it will hurt you more than any letter combo. I had a med student like this last month and despite the fact that he was a good student him being so high maintenence made more work for me and if he brought that attitude/energy to interviews I wouldn't rank him highly mainly because it would be extremely annoying to work with him in the future

So to sum it all up, chill out, you will be fine

You are right, thanks for the perspective. Thankfully my over-anxious planning is all on this forum and doesn't come out in my day-to-day work 🙂 I actually don't ever bring these questions up to my residents, I just listen to different opinions and then post on this forum if I have questions about it. But you are right, it is not this big of a deal.

 

[libihero]

My question on LORs:

1. I am going to start second neurology rotation on Tuesday. I had really wanted to get a letter from this hospital, but an advisor told me that the latest I can submit letters is October 1st, which is the when this rotation ends. Is it possible to have letters sent after this date, and will it delay my ERAS (I plan on submitting Sep 15th)?