Question re: letters of rec for Heme/Onc fellowship

[mirrortest7]

Just wondering if anyone could comment on how important it is for letters of rec for Heme/Onc fellowship to be from Heme/Onc attendings vs. attendings from other fields. Do letters from gen med docs or those from other subspecialties carry as much weight, or should one try to get all letters from Heme/Onc staff? Would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gutonc]

Just wondering if anyone could comment on how important it is for letters of rec for Heme/Onc fellowship to be from Heme/Onc attendings vs. attendings from other fields. Do letters from gen med docs or those from other subspecialties carry as much weight, or should one try to get all letters from Heme/Onc staff? Would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

I had 4 letters. One from a H/O PD, one from a MICU attending, one from my IM PD and one from my PhD advisor. I would say that you need at least one but they don't all need to be Onc letters.

 

[TAXOTERE]

Interesting Q. You have to look at the overall picture when your application goes in front of the PD.
I had LORs from my hem/onc faculty mentor (nationally renowned), BMT faculty and my residency PD.
GutOnc seems like a phD guy. I had bench research exp. So I think what matters in the end is that whatever weakness you have in your application will be highlighted so you have to work on all the aspects.
Scores you can't change but LORs and research I think are the ones that you really can work on. In nut shell I would rate the LORs important to a point where they can get you an interview call if they PD of that program knows your LOR guy.