physiatrist letter fell through...

[Fooman]

I just got the worse email imagined...

The physiatrist that I had asked to write a recommendation letter back in July/Aug '05 wrote me an email today basically stating that he didn't have enough interaction with me during the 1 week period that I was rotating through his service. (Btw, we only had 1 patient during the week that I was there, split among me and the chief resident).

Keep in mind that he AGREED to write it when I asked in person during the end of my rotation...And the reason why I asked him in particular was because the residents told me his name carried the most weight at their program. I had actually asked another attending, but she was a junior attending at the time and also felt that he was a better person to ask.

He informs me about it TODAY that he won't do it....after I tried to followup with him via email about 5 times and left 3 messages with his secretary, all left unanswered, no courtesy reply..nothing over the past month and a half.

Basically, it was a kick in the balls. Luckily, I do have a backup letter, but it is from a gyn/onc surgeon, which makes 2 of my letters from surgeons. The other 2 are IM and FP. Will this hurt my chances??

I know some programs require a physiatrist letter...but what am I to do now? Is it too late to ask for a letter from another physiatrist that I worked with? It takes on average 1 month for a letter right?

Oh yeah, I also have 2 interviews with programs that have this requirement. Does it mean that they probably won't rank me?!?

I'm so sad and incredibly frustrated....plus I'm on call tomorrow.

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[DistantMets]

I would contact the junior attending, explain the situation, send a copy of your ERAS CAF and personal statement, offer to do a telephone interview or whatever she wants. If she's local, I'd consider setting up a meeting. Right now, you just need a decent letter, any letter. If she has a sense of the situation and liked you, hopefully she'll crank out a letter before your first interview.

If the rest of the package you put forth is strong...application, letters, board scores, etc. you should be in the running for a spot. If you became interested in PM&R late then it is not unreasonable to only have 1 letter, especially if that was your only rotation. I've had several residents tell me going into interviews that programs want to know you're truly interested in the field. So polish your 'why PM&R?' answer. I would definitely put the full court press on this junior attending. There's nothing you can do about the other guy. Even if you talked him into writing it...he's just going to say he didn't know you well enough and you'd have a crappy letter instead of no letter.

Good luck, I hope things work out.

 

[cyanocobalamin]

I think that as long as your story makes sense, it's fine. One resident that I know of at a well respected smaller program didn't have any PM&R letters and she did just fine. Of course, it's not the best situation, but you have been getting interviews at high quality places no less. Just try getting the other letter you were talking about. I mean, all the attg has to do is dictate it, right? Takes 5 minutes. I believe letters can even be emailed. I mean, by this point most interview screening has already been done. I mean e.g. by Dec 3, Hopkins will have already concluded all the interviews they are going to do.

Best of luck!

 

[macman]

One thing that may be worth trying is asking if they can do a compilation letter? At one of my rotations I wanted a letter from the PD but he did not see much of me so I asked if the folks I rotated with would share their experiences with him and he could compile their opinions.

your situation really sucks-I had an attending do the same thing to me-after given me a really high grade and saying he'd be happy to write a letter-then never doing it and never responding to emails/letters/calls/pages. Another attending was nice enough to help me out. To not have a PM&R letter when you have done a rotation could be a liability-do whatever you can to get something pieced together.

Good luck