Possible bad LORs?

[spinnerette]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I have been chatting with my friends about letters.
Apparently, they have heard horrid stories regarding bad/negative LORs for previous years' students.

This got me thinking,
How bad would one or two negative letters hurt your chances of matching?

I asked for 5 letters this year and all of them agreed to write me a good one.
But what if they secretly don't like me?

 

[Paddington]

That's what retaining access is for.

 

[spinnerette]

That's what retaining access is for.

what's this retaining access
how does it work

 

[jcu]

I'm assuming Paddy is referring to not waiving your right to read your own LORs. Which I'm sure s/he knows isn't highly recommended. Unless s/he is referring to an ERAS loophole I'm unaware of.

 

[peppy]

At some schools the person who uploads your ERAS file will tell you the general content of the letter. That's probably the best way to figure out if your letters are good or not, if the ERAS person is willing. The advice I've heard is that you really should waive your letters because otherwise the programs don't take them seriously.

I do think it would be a pretty big red flag if you had a bad letter in your application, since most people are able to get all good letters. Personally, if I were an attending and asked for a letter from someone I didn't like, I'd just say no to the request. I think it is kind of jerkish to agree to it and then give the person a bad letter. But, yeah, some people are jerkish enough to do that sort of thing.

 

[mlw03]

I have been chatting with my friends about letters.
Apparently, they have heard horrid stories regarding bad/negative LORs for previous years' students.

This got me thinking,
How bad would one or two negative letters hurt your chances of matching?I asked for 5 letters this year and all of them agreed to write me a good one.
But what if they secretly don't like me?

Very. Most everyone's letters are good. A truly negative letter would be very damning.

 

[wannabeOBGYN]

At some schools the person who uploads your ERAS file will tell you the general content of the letter. That's probably the best way to figure out if your letters are good or not, if the ERAS person is willing. The advice I've heard is that you really should waive your letters because otherwise the programs don't take them seriously.

I do think it would be a pretty big red flag if you had a bad letter in your application, since most people are able to get all good letters. Personally, if I were an attending and asked for a letter from someone I didn't like, I'd just say no to the request. I think it is kind of jerkish to agree to it and then give the person a bad letter. But, yeah, some people are jerkish enough to do that sort of thing.

I have to agree with the bolded bit above. I am obviously a LONG way away from being an attending, but you'd think most people would be nice enough to say no if they can't write a good letter.

 

[Ishie1013]

I have been chatting with my friends about letters.
Apparently, they have heard horrid stories regarding bad/negative LORs for previous years' students.

This got me thinking,
How bad would one or two negative letters hurt your chances of matching?

I asked for 5 letters this year and all of them agreed to write me a good one.
But what if they secretly don't like me?

When we were rotating, we were told that when asking for a letter of recommendation, we should ask the attending if they'd feel comfortable writing us an excellent letter of recommendation. It sounds kind of forward and awkward, but it gives them an out. If they say "no", they're flat out lying if they write a bad one, which I think most wouldn't do, or if they would, you'd get enough of a strongly negative vibe not to ask.

Some people seemed to get torched if they ask a jerky attending for a "letter of reference" or even a "letter of recommendation" without adding the "excellent", because the attending will say yes and then write one that is lukewarm. In the world of letters full of gushing praise, a letter that says "John Smith rotated with me and performed the tasks to which he was assigned" is bad news.

 

[mlw03]

I don't know if you even have to use a word as strong as "excellent." i asked if they could write me a positive letter of recommendation, and that got the job done. but i agree that throwing that adjective in there is a good idea for the reasons you stated.

 

[nitemagi]

I don't know if you even have to use a word as strong as "excellent." i asked if they could write me a positive letter of recommendation, and that got the job done. but i agree that throwing that adjective in there is a good idea for the reasons you stated.

I used the word strong. "Would you be willing to write me a strong letter of recommendation?" Whether it was my asking that way or whatever else, I heard from interviewers that my letters were excessively positive. I did the same request when I got letters for jobs post-residency.