Shadowing/LOR - Attending, Fellow, Resident, Intern?

[baconshrimps]

This no longer applies to me as my cycle has pretty much ended, but it's not something I ever thought about until tonight. Does it matter (as far as the benefit of your shadowing experience / how the LOR would be considered by an ADCOM) what stage of their career a physician you are shadowing/asking for a LOR is in?

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[crimsonkid85]

This no longer applies to me as my cycle has pretty much ended, but it's not something I ever thought about until tonight. Does it matter (as far as the benefit of your shadowing experience / how the LOR would be considered by an ADCOM) what stage of their career a physician you are shadowing/asking for a LOR is in?

of course it does. an intern is a glorified med student. interns aren't even allowed to evaluate medical students at my school. most 2nd year residents aren't allowed to either in most clerkships. only >3rd and chief residents are allowed to evaluate us. Fellows are held to the same degree of seniority as attendings, but this is for med STUDENT evals. Obviously attendings are the best people to get evals from because they are the actual people on tenure track, and thus only their letters carry the weight of the institution.

 

[snowflakes]

It's been said by adcoms on SDN that shadowing LORs aren't particularly helpful (except when required for DO schools), even when attendings write them. Furthermore when you're shadowing, it's not just for a LOR, but also for you to learn more about a career in medicine. It's much more informative for you to talk to someone who has gone through the entire training process and is now practicing as a fully certified physician than someone who's still in the training phase. An attending has a better perspective.

 

[DrUKDO]

An attending is the best. Possibly a fellow, since they already have a license and are likely board certified.

 

[sazerac]

I varied my routine a lot. Sometimes I would shadow medical students, because that is what I wanted to be next. Sometimes I would shadow a patient, to see the differences between student / resident / attending. I learned something about medicine each time I shadowed.

 

[NickNaylor]

If your goal is to get a LOR, you should work with the attending (or a fellow). I don't think it's helpful to get a LOR from a resident, and obviously not from an intern or medical student. Even though fellows are still trainees, they are fully trained and licensed physicians, though I still think it would be better to go with a full-fledged attending if you have a choice.

If you just want to learn about medicine and see what each person's day-to-day functions are, any of them will suffice, though a resident or "above" would likely be more informative than an intern or medical student.