New AAIM recommendations as a DO

[futurestrip]

So the AAIM just released the specialty specific recommendations for IM applicants. In it they included a new standardized format for the Departmental LOR. It seems to me that programs actually care about this letter and since I go to one of the many DO schools without a Chair of medicine (or Dept of Medicine for that matter) I was wondering how to go about getting this letter. Or am I just out of luck at the programs that want this letter?

Hoping to hear from people that applied IM in the past and needed this letter and didn't have a Department of Medicine at their school.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted1016251]

I'd like to know this as well. Here is a link to the recommendations for anyone who has yet to see them: Guidance for 2020-2021 Residency Application Season - AAIM

 

[deleted1016251]

I'd like to know this as well. Here is a link to the recommendations for anyone who has yet to see them:

Guidance for 2020-2021 Residency Application Season - AAIM

 

[NotAProgDirector]

It's not clear that any medical school is going to buy into this. We shall see.

 

[full_rocker]

So the AAIM just released the specialty specific recommendations for IM applicants. In it they included a new standardized format for the Departmental LOR. It seems to me that programs actually care about this letter and since I go to one of the many DO schools without a Chair of medicine (or Dept of Medicine for that matter) I was wondering how to go about getting this letter. Or am I just out of luck at the programs that want this letter?

Hoping to hear from people that applied IM in the past and needed this letter and didn't have a Department of Medicine at their school.

Also at a school without any real "departments". We have one professor who mostly helps with residency applications that is supposedly our "go-to" person to do this for us. Reach out to your clinical dean(s) or ask an upperclassman (if you can) if they used anyone in particular.

Good luck, going to be a bizarre cycle.

 

[diesel2202]

So the AAIM just released the specialty specific recommendations for IM applicants. In it they included a new standardized format for the Departmental LOR. It seems to me that programs actually care about this letter and since I go to one of the many DO schools without a Chair of medicine (or Dept of Medicine for that matter) I was wondering how to go about getting this letter. Or am I just out of luck at the programs that want this letter?

Hoping to hear from people that applied IM in the past and needed this letter and didn't have a Department of Medicine at their school.

Last year there were programs that were either requiring or "strongly encouraging" Department of Medicine Chairman letters, but it was less than 20% from my experience. Also of all the programs I looked at and/or applied, it was only academic programs that wanted them. I would speak with your dean/director of GME to find out if someone is available to do it. If you don't have anyone who can do it and there is a program you are really interested in that wants one I would just reach out to the program to see what options you may have.

 

[Espressso]

Following.

Seems to be pretty strange to me. Not sure if I should start freaking out or not.

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

So the AAIM just released the specialty specific recommendations for IM applicants. In it they included a new standardized format for the Departmental LOR. It seems to me that programs actually care about this letter and since I go to one of the many DO schools without a Chair of medicine (or Dept of Medicine for that matter) I was wondering how to go about getting this letter. Or am I just out of luck at the programs that want this letter?

Hoping to hear from people that applied IM in the past and needed this letter and didn't have a Department of Medicine at their school.

I wonder if the PD of an IM program that our school is affiliated with counts as a medicine chair? You could do your IM rotation there and theoretically get that letter?

 

[futurestrip]

I wonder if the PD of an IM program that our school is affiliated with counts as a medicine chair? You could do your IM rotation there and theoretically get that letter?

Thats what my school said when I asked them. But the letter asks for some detailed comparisons with my classmates and since my class is spread out over many different sites there is no way for the PD to be able to do this. My school has been of little to no use in all of this. Like how hard is it for the school to just fill out a basically pre-written letter!

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

Thats what my school said when I asked them. But the letter asks for some detailed comparisons with my classmates and since my class is spread out over many different sites there is no way for the PD to be able to do this. My school has been of little to no use in all of this. Like how hard is it for the school to just fill out a basically pre-written letter!

Ahhh I see that’s really disappointing, idk how much/ if it really hurts your application tho in the grand scheme of things at those particular programs. It kind of sounds like the SLOE that EM uses, if a template is available for this IM letter like it is for the SLOE you could ask the PD/“IM chair” to just use that to write your letter? He/she may be able to compare your performance to the other students from your school that have rotated there during 3rd and 4th year?

 

[TwistedTea]

I can see something like this catch wind at competitive programs maybe after STEP 1 goes pass fail but not yet.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

I read this and thought it was a SLOE for IM, wouldn’t this just mean that DOs have to do aways for the SLOE in IM like they do for EM?

 

[futurestrip]

I read this and thought it was a SLOE for IM, wouldn’t this just mean that DOs have to do aways for the SLOE in IM like they do for EM?

I thought it was a SLOE but from your department/chair of medicine. Lots of places already have a required Department/chair letter but I think the letters have been highly variable in how they are written/ what’s included so they made a standardized version.

 

[boolin_1]

I thought it was a SLOE but from your department/chair of medicine. Lots of places already have a required Department/chair letter but I think the letters have been highly variable in how they are written/ what’s included so they made a standardized version.

but the department chair is a faculty member from the school?

Because there are dept chairs of IM at our local hospitals that could write excellent letters, instead of dept chairs from the schools that would write ****ty redundant letters based on MSPE comments (redundant letters is the whole reason this standardized letter is being rolled out in the first place).

 

[sunshinefl]

I too am very troubled by the recs and actually find that rolling out some new thing right now is more stressful than not. The following is my text conversation with my classmate also applying IM about this immediately after they were published.


Me: Wtf? The IM recs have like 5 different versions of a new “evaluation form, letter, DOM LOE” (called different things). If we already did IM and won’t be able to do aways, why are they introducing new and complicated things? How does that help with pandemic relief?

Her: I thought overall it was good news

Me: Not if they want this fancy letter (that has 5 different templates on the page) that only MD students with a strong academic MD home program with incredible infrastructure will bother to fill out

 

[getfat]

Yeah idk what they want DO students to do.

No IM program. Many of us might not even be able to audition at programs with an IM program.

I'm starting to doubt i can even get 3 LORs by October. Let alone a Eval form from a DOM.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

I thought it was a SLOE but from your department/chair of medicine. Lots of places already have a required Department/chair letter but I think the letters have been highly variable in how they are written/ what’s included so they made a standardized version.

This would make it a lot easier to get then and will make it pretty useless on the DO side even tho the school will provide from some random faculty.

I think it won’t be widespread adopted unless your interpretation is right. Even MDs would have to adjust to get 2 SLOEs EM style from different IM programs.