Surgery LOR from same hospital

[bengeminy]

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Hello everyone. So I am applying for surgery osteopathic and I just have questions about LOR. Since I only had one rotation during 3rd year in surgery and mostly interacted with residents, I opted to wait till 4th year to get stronger LOR. I just finished one rotation and asked for a letter from the residency program director, the assistant program director, and another attending even offered to write me one. Here are my questions and I apologize in advance that most are really stupid questions.

1) Would it be stupid to apply using those letters to the same hospital? I'm just wondering because I am very limited with time (application process already started july 15) and maybe the residency program director forgot what it was like working with me any way or would like to know how the other attendings thought of me.

2) Since the application process already started, how much time should I give them to write it? Is 2 weeks too long or short?

3) If I already spoke to them face-face and they said yes, how should I structure the email? Just say thank you and attach the forms, CV, etc? Or should I write the email as if I'm asking them again?

4) When I apply to programs, is it ok if 2 or even 3 letters are from the same hospital?

5) I should be getting a family medicine LOR. Should I use it or is it useless when applying for surgery residency?

6)All 3 attendings said I did well although of course there were some things I needed to improve on. I approached first and asked the 2 directors and didn't think to even ask the other attending. But when I said my goodbyes that attending actually offered to write me one. He is NOT a program director although very important and highly respected in the hospital. Since most programs ask for 3, is it more important to just use the ones written by the program directors?

Sorry for the long post but thanks again!

 

[AMEHigh]

1. No it wouldn't be stupid to use those letters. I would still use other letters as well though if you have them. So for example, 2 from that hospital and 2 from another hospital.

2. I give writers 1 month. You can still apply to programs and then attach the letters later. It's better to apply now and not wait for the letters.

3. I would email them say thank you for agreeing to write me a LOR, attached you will find my resume. (But in nicer words of course).

4. As far as I know it's ok for letters to come from the same hospital, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be ok.

5. I have no specific experience about surgery, but generally I've heard that letters are valid if the doctor writes about working closely with you and says positive things regardless of what specialty it's in. Obviously, the closer related to the specialty you're applying, the better. However, I wouldn't exclude a letter from another specialty if you have it.

6. Most of my programs allow up to 4 letters, so I'd attach all 3.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Conventional wisdom for surgery is only letters from surgeons should be used. The point of the letter is to discuss your aptitude for becoming a surgeon; FM physicians can't evaluate that.

As above, I think 1 month is reasonable. Send them an email, thanking them and attaching your CV and perhaps a list of programs you were thinking of applying to, for assistance in writing your letter. They'll get the hint.

In regards to letters coming from the same hospital, you're looking at this with Osteo blinders. While you may have rotated at different hospitals for your clinical years, most Allo students do not travel as much, so their letters tend to be from the same hospital; maybe the VA or a Peds hospital is thrown in there. I'm not familiar with the requirements for DO surgery but in general there is no problem with having your letters be from the same hospital

 

[Kaustikos]

Conventional wisdom for surgery is only letters from surgeons should be used. The point of the letter is to discuss your aptitude for becoming a surgeon; FM physicians can't evaluate that.

As above, I think 1 month is reasonable. Send them an email, thanking them and attaching your CV and perhaps a list of programs you were thinking of applying to, for assistance in writing your letter. They'll get the hint.

In regards to letters coming from the same hospital, you're looking at this with Osteo blinders. While you may have rotated at different hospitals for your clinical years, most Allo students do not travel as much, so their letters tend to be from the same hospital; maybe the VA or a Peds hospital is thrown in there. I'm not familiar with the requirements for DO surgery but in general there is no problem with having your letters be from the same hospital

Yeah,
My advisor/chair/etc said they threw out LoR from anyone outside of Surgery... even if it was awesome. Which made it awkward when my IM attending was like "Hai, Kaus, want a LOR?"

And it would suck for me if I had to get outside LoR (outside of hospitals) since everything downtown is... IU Health.