value of LOR from community specialist

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pillu

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I am a hospitalist applying for fellowship. One of my colleagues from the specialty I am applying to, has given me an excellent recommendation letter. I feel the letter is important because she has talked about my clinical knowledge. I do have 3 letters from academic faculty as well. I am confused if I should use this LOR from community faculty as my 4th LOR. Will a letter from a community physician hurt my application? Please advise.

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I matched last year into pulm/CC. One of my letters was from a community pulm cc guy. I don't think it hurt my app at all. If you get great letters from people that know you well instead of vague letters from well known people who don't know you well then I think that will server you better.
 
Agreed. If it is from an attending who knows you well and is capable of writing a strong letter, it will be unlikely to hurt you and may be beneficial.

If it's a mediocre letter ("Dr. Pillu is a good doctor") it has the potential to be harmful. Not everyone knows how to write a good LOR but some people can cover for it with their "academic cred."
 
I finally used this LOR as the 4th LOR for programs asking more than 3.

Thanks you all for your input.
 
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