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- Jun 25, 2008
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Hi friends, hope everyone had a great New Year and some downtime! Well it's almost that time of year again when we have to start thinking about applying and I have an interesting dilemma, would it be better in some cases to get a recommendation letter from a resident (2nd or 4th year) rather than an attending?
I'm wondering about this because I've been out of school for a few years now and I plan on getting several recommendation letters from people that I know at the hospital where I work. I'm thinking of getting a letter from my PI (an attending) and then one or two additional letters. Right now, I'm trying to decide if it would be better to get a letter from one of the resident that I know pretty well or if it would be better to get a letter from another attending physician who is a coinvestigator with my PI.
Most of the time, when I have to deal with patients, I always do it with the help of the residents, so I think they have a better idea of how I deal with patients and my bedside manners than the attendings. But the other attending physicians who work with my PI are on the faculty of the medical school. Granted, even though I work for them, I see them only occassionally. I think that the other attendings are pretty supportive and would write a positive recommendation letter since I work on their projects, but I don't know how much they would be able to convey about my interaction with patients. So I'm trying to decide whether it would be better to get a letter from a resident that knows you pretty well or whether it would be better to get a letter from a faculty member that you've worked with on occassions but who has more "pull" with the medical school.
I'm wondering about this because I've been out of school for a few years now and I plan on getting several recommendation letters from people that I know at the hospital where I work. I'm thinking of getting a letter from my PI (an attending) and then one or two additional letters. Right now, I'm trying to decide if it would be better to get a letter from one of the resident that I know pretty well or if it would be better to get a letter from another attending physician who is a coinvestigator with my PI.
Most of the time, when I have to deal with patients, I always do it with the help of the residents, so I think they have a better idea of how I deal with patients and my bedside manners than the attendings. But the other attending physicians who work with my PI are on the faculty of the medical school. Granted, even though I work for them, I see them only occassionally. I think that the other attendings are pretty supportive and would write a positive recommendation letter since I work on their projects, but I don't know how much they would be able to convey about my interaction with patients. So I'm trying to decide whether it would be better to get a letter from a resident that knows you pretty well or whether it would be better to get a letter from a faculty member that you've worked with on occassions but who has more "pull" with the medical school.
