Rec letters from Chief Residents ?

[ThinkFast007]

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Question..

I will be doing a rotation in a busy university hosp. Furthermore, i'm going to start at one of those services (surgery) where there isnt much attending exposure, rather i've heard we'll be presenting and working closely with chief residents. question, in something like surgery would it be appropriate/and or good to get a rec from a chief resident? how will gas PDs look at this? unfortunately, we dont get exposure to attendings and from this forum it seems that a rec from a surgeon is important.....

 

[UTSouthwestern]

Question..

I will be doing a rotation in a busy university hosp. Furthermore, i'm going to start at one of those services (surgery) where there isnt much attending exposure, rather i've heard we'll be presenting and working closely with chief residents. question, in something like surgery would it be appropriate/and or good to get a rec from a chief resident? how will gas PDs look at this? unfortunately, we dont get exposure to attendings and from this forum it seems that a rec from a surgeon is important.....

Don't know how a program looks at an LOR from a surgery chief resident, but I know that I received thoughtful replies from every program to which I wrote and sent an LOR to on behalf of an applicant. Nice to know I didn't waste my time writing them.

 

[impetigo]

Question..

question, in something like surgery would it be appropriate/and or good to get a rec from a chief resident? how will gas PDs look at this? unfortunately, we dont get exposure to attendings and from this forum it seems that a rec from a surgeon is important.....

A nice letter/email from a resident could be useful when applying for residency if he/she has some connection to a program you're applying to. I got an interview (for prelim medicine) at a program I would have had no chance at otherwise this way. But as for official LOR I don't think letters from residents are ever recommended, at least not in lieu of an attending letter. I would just ask the resident to mention all the great things about you to the attending when he/she writes your LOR.

 

[ThinkFast007]

A nice letter/email from a resident could be useful when applying for residency if he/she has some connection to a program you're applying to. I got an interview (for prelim medicine) at a program I would have had no chance at otherwise this way. But as for official LOR I don't think letters from residents are ever recommended, at least not in lieu of an attending letter. I would just ask the resident to mention all the great things about you to the attending when he/she writes your LOR.

the thing is...from hearsay there is no working with the attending....

i dotn know if an attending would solely write an LOR solely off the words of a chief resident (who i know is qualified and would be an attending if they didnt choose to do an extra year....)

anyways..thanks for the suggestions guys..

 

[IV Doc]

Actually I think most attendings would have no problem writing the letter based on hearsay asuming the attending trusts the chief's judgement and the chief says good things about you. Now I am inclined to defer to UTSouthwestern's on this issue since he is more experienced but my gut feeling is a letter from an attending is always better than a letter from a resident. The thing you have to remember is attendings are used to writing these letters and they probobly have about 3-5 different letters in which they use depending on how much they like you. The fact is in many fields students get minimal exposure to attendings and attendings make judgements based on what the residents say.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

Actually I think most attendings would have no problem writing the letter based on hearsay asuming the attending trusts the chief's judgement and the chief says good things about you. Now I am inclined to defer to UTSouthwestern's on this issue since he is more experienced but my gut feeling is a letter from an attending is always better than a letter from a resident. The thing you have to remember is attendings are used to writing these letters and they probobly have about 3-5 different letters in which they use depending on how much they like you. The fact is in many fields students get minimal exposure to attendings and attendings make judgements based on what the residents say.

Letters from attendings are definitely the stronger to have, but since I had to write a unique letter for each individual, I think it helped add a little more characterization of the individual and the replies emphasized that point (i.e. my letter wasn't generic, vague, or written with generalities). Also just a different perspective (closer to being a peer, than an attending).

 

[chillindrdude]

you need an attending LOR...you need at least 3 Attending LORs...and if you want, include a chief resident LOR as a 4th supplemental.

 

[doc05]

the thing is...from hearsay there is no working with the attending....

i dotn know if an attending would solely write an LOR solely off the words of a chief resident (who i know is qualified and would be an attending if they didnt choose to do an extra year....)

anyways..thanks for the suggestions guys..

surgery chief residents don't do an "extra" year. everyone is a chief during the 5th year.

 

[belle007]

anesthesiologists like to see letters from other anesthesiologists...so unless a surgeon knows you really well and that's why you want the letter--i would get all anesthesiologist letters