rads faculty mentor wants me to write my own LOR, looking for advice?

[spencerxd]

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Hey everyone. A rads faculty member I have gotten to know well wants to support me with a letter of rec, but he is older and has been out of application-related stuff for while. He therefore asked me to write it for him and he would look it over and sign-off on it. I have 0 idea how to write an LOR. Looking for any advice I can get on things like:

- what is typically written in rads LORs?
- whats tone/formality of the letter
- buzzwords to indicate strength of an applicant?
- any specific topics that MUST be addressed in an LOR
- length of the letter?
- go into personal details of the applicants (things a faculty member close to you would know, such as your family, life experiences, etc).
- how do faculty members introduce themselves/their titles
- are there certain headers/footers or type of paper I should use (ie one with the academic center logo or something?

As you can tell, I am starting from scratch, so would appreciate any advice at all. Thanks everyone.

 

[Puff-of-Snow Sign]

You'll find differences of opinion on this subject, but I say go for it. It's a great exercise for you, since this whole process is about selling yourself in a positive light while staying true to yourself...a difficult balance to find and maintain.

If you Google "residency letter of recommendation", you can find a lot of good information that different med schools have put out there to help faculty members write strong letters for their students. I wrote two for myself (practically wrote all of one and skeletonized the other) and found the OHSU website to be the most helpful, but perused several other school's websites and found examples of strong and not-so-strong letters. I had also served on a (non-residency) admissions committee before, so I had a little better idea of how good letters and bad ones read.

I did not write a radiology letter for myself, so I can't comment on any specifics that might be important for that type of letter, but the general idea (I think...) is the same. Basically, what application reviewers are looking for in a strong letter is the stuff that can't be found in your CV. A bad letter simply regurgitates your CV. A good letter may highlight certain points of your CV that are particularly impressive or give context to those items that may not be as obviously impressive to folks in other fields. E.g. Everyone knows that NEJM and Nature pubs are impressive accomplishments for a med student, but not everyone in every field will understand that a paper in Cell is equally impressive. More subtle examples exist, but hopefully this gives you an idea. However, what letter readers really want is to get a better idea of who you are and what it is like to work with you. To do that, it helps to give specific examples from a faculty member's experience with a student that highlight who that student is and how they will make an excellent resident/clinician.

I've received some really positive feedback on my letters so far. A lot of what was said, I've tried to capture here, but this is by no means all-inclusive. My advice is to write your own letter or, at least, skeletonize it and then schedule a meeting with your mentor to go over the letter. In that meeting, I would politely request that they go through it and add their own personal touches to make it even stronger. I think you'll find that most people who ask you to go through this exercise will be more than happy to do so.

 

[spencerxd]

thanks for the advice, I would appreciate any other advice others can provide

 

[TheTwits]

In "The Successful Match" by Desai, they recommend that you do not write a letter for yourself. First of all, presumably you have never written a letter of recommendation, and medical students tend to have a tough time bragging about themselves in the appropriate way. Also, I tend to think this is somewhat dishonest. In the book, Desai mentions that some program directors who suspect that this has occurred will veto the candidate. If I was a PD, I would agree with this. You should be able to find 3 people who will be willing to actually write good letters for you. If not, you're doing something wrong on your rotations. However, if you can't help yourself, puff's advice seems reasonable.

 

[Puff-of-Snow Sign]

In "The Successful Match" by Desai, they recommend that you do not write a letter for yourself. First of all, presumably you have never written a letter of recommendation, and medical students tend to have a tough time bragging about themselves in the appropriate way. Also, I tend to think this is somewhat dishonest. In the book, Desai mentions that some program directors who suspect that this has occurred will veto the candidate. If I was a PD, I would agree with this. You should be able to find 3 people who will be willing to actually write good letters for you. If not, you're doing something wrong on your rotations. However, if you can't help yourself, puff's advice seems reasonable.

I was very concerned about the issues Twits mentions above, but I really wanted letters from these two folks because I felt like out of all of the people I had worked with during 3rd and 4th year, these guys knew me best and - on top of that - had given me really good evaluations during my rotations with them. So I asked the PD at my home program about it. He said that, generally speaking, he probably wouldn't recommend it. However, if I really felt like there wasn't a better option than to do it that I should make sure they added their own personal touch and style to the letter and that I make it clear to them that I waived my right to see the final product. So...I followed his advice and also did what I said above and for all I know, the whole thing could've been an exercise and they could've discarded my version and written their own from scratch. Seems unlikely, but could be... In the end, I really don't feel like I wrote the entire product that people reviewing my application are seeing. From my conversations with them, I feel like my letter writers really did make sure to include their own impressions of me.

Could I have found other faculty members to write letters for me without asking me to write any of it? Sure. But the other medicine and surgery attendings I worked with didn't spend more than a few days with me, at best.

 

[hiltonty997]

I wouldn't do it just because that seems like a ton of work, and I'm lazy.

If you're motivated enough to do it and pull it off well, then go for it.

 

[hiltonty997]

I wouldn't do it just because that seems like a ton of work, and I'm lazy.

If you're motivated enough to do it and pull it off well, then go for it.

 

[Silent Cool]

Hey everyone. A rads faculty member I have gotten to know well wants to support me with a letter of rec, but he is older and has been out of application-related stuff for while. He therefore asked me to write it for him and he would look it over and sign-off on it. I have 0 idea how to write an LOR. Looking for any advice I can get on things like:

- what is typically written in rads LORs?
- whats tone/formality of the letter
- buzzwords to indicate strength of an applicant?
- any specific topics that MUST be addressed in an LOR
- length of the letter?
- go into personal details of the applicants (things a faculty member close to you would know, such as your family, life experiences, etc).
- how do faculty members introduce themselves/their titles
- are there certain headers/footers or type of paper I should use (ie one with the academic center logo or something?

As you can tell, I am starting from scratch, so would appreciate any advice at all. Thanks everyone.

Sounds like you hit the jackpot. Congratulations!