Transitional Year LOR, number of programs

[js255]

who should you get LORs from for transitional year. I have one from surgery, medicine, and ophtho is this ok or should i get another one from somebody else?

also, how many programs is the average to apply to?

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[xaelia]

I requested five letters of recommendation, picked three for my CAS (ophtho, medicine, neurology), and then four for my ERAS (medicine, neurology, pediatrics, family medicine).

I applied to many programs, a couple here, and a couple in each city that I applied to an ophthalmology residency if that was a city I'd rather live in than here. I hope I can coordinate interviews for with the program directors for the TY and prelim programs I applied to with my interview days for ophtho. The most desireable TY and prelim programs are very competitive, from what I hear.

 

[rubensan]

i matched just fine with letters from your exact sources.

Re: # of programs. If you want to stay in a competitive location (LA, NYC, SF, etc) I would blanket all of the prelim programs in that area.

who should you get LORs from for transitional year. I have one from surgery, medicine, and ophtho is this ok or should i get another one from somebody else?

also, how many programs is the average to apply to?

 

[amelie4i's]

So I was planning on using the exact letters for the transitional year as I used for sfmatch (two ophtho, one medicine) with no changes. Acceptable? I was under the impression this would be fine as all the programs will know I want to do ophtho.

 

[sisyphus22]

So I was planning on using the exact letters for the transitional year as I used for sfmatch (two ophtho, one medicine) with no changes. Acceptable? I was under the impression this would be fine as all the programs will know I want to do ophtho.

If you haven't already submitted your application, I honestly think it's better to get transitional letters from attendings in different core rotations...since that's basically what the transitional year is. But I'm an MS-IV so what do I know.

I think someone asked this somewhere but I didn't read the responses - do you think it matters if you get the same exact letters for prelim as for transitional? in other words, my letters probably say "This letter is in support of So-and-so, who is applying for preliminary medicine at your program.....So-and-so will make a great preliminary medicine intern." I have already asked for letters for prelim yr and forgot that I will also be applying to some transitional programs. It just seems like a huge pain to ask for THREE different versions of a letter (ophtho, prelim, and transitional) - two versions was bad enough!