Non-ophtho letter of rec

[alleyesonme]

I am applying for Ophthalmology this year, and I have a question regarding the non-ophtho LOR. I honored both surgery and medicine, and could probably get a good letter from one of the attendings. However, I have worked extensively with an Emergency Medicine attending not only on the wards, but also during pre-clinical years, and on several volunteer experiences. He would be able to write an excellent, in-depth LOR that would really highlight my attributes both in and out of medicine. Does it matter that he is EM and not from surgery or medicine? Or should I go with the classic surgery or medicine attending for a LOR? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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[bulldoc]

i would get one from each and then turn in the EM letter. I'd use the medicine letter for your prelim.

 

[ophthal3]

I would agree. While a stellar Medicine or Surgery letter might be better, a non-ophtho letter is a non-ophtho letter regardless (which means review committees place less weight on them than ophtho LORs). So get the best, most personal non-ophtho letter you can, even if its EM. Medicine and Surg letters will come in handy for transitional and prelim applications, so getting both those early will make your life easier next fall. For trans/prelim recs, just ask the writer to say they are recommending you for "internship," (and not to specify prelim/transitional), that way you can use the same letter for transitional, medicine, or even surgery (if you are a sadist) prelims. If I were you, I'd also ask the EM attending for 2 letters at once, one addressed to ophtho progs and one to "internship". Get all the letters now, you can decide how to use them later. Again, makes life much easier down the line.

 

[koalax3]

I was told that for transitional LORs you can just turn in one medicine and the same two ophtho letters you used for your ophtho app. Is it better to get 3 medicine/surgery letters or does it not really matter?

Also..when is the ideal time to turn in your app for transitional year? I was going to do a medicine sub-i mid-sept to mid-oct and was wondering if that would be too late to get another medicine letter.

Thanks!

 

[ophthal3]

Yes, for transitional LORs you can turn in pretty much whatever you want (I used 2 ophtho, 1 surgery). This is for TRANSITIONAL - Medicine prelims will probably want 1-2 medicine letters, surg prelims may want a surg letter. Ideally, get the transitional apps out as soon as possible, as those progs are competitive. If you have a strong application for ophtho don't worry too much though. I was busy on an away rotation and didn't get out my intern apps until the mid october (deadline was nov 1st) and still got what I wanted. But don't bank on getting a LOR that late, thats risky.

If I could do it over again, I'd just do the intern year app at the same time as the ophtho app, since really you're using the same personal statement and LORs. That will make your life a lot easier. So to clarify, for transitional year, its best to just get the application in as soon as possible, with whatever recs you have. Getting it in early will do more for your chances at getting interviews than having extra medicine letters.

 

[JMK2005]

I'd vote for the surgery or medicine letter over EM. Definitely get letters from all three. Don't you have an option to send in a 4th letter separately?

 

[azzarah]

EM letter IMO....I know that during ophtho interviews every single one of my interviewers had read every single line in my application, so getting a letter from whoever's going to gives you the most glowing LOR would be your best bet.