What items do a strong LOR for radiology address?

[peachesorangesapples]

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MS3 planning to apply to radiology this year. I am planning to get LORs from OB/GYN, surgery, internal medicine, and radiology. What kind of items should I ask letter writers to focus on in their letters? What are radiology program directors looking for? Thank you.

 

[guytakingboards]

I don't think there's any one particular format that equals a strong LOR. I read of a lot of them this year and the better ones were a) not a re-hash of the CV b) were well written in the narrative sense and c) integrated comments that made think the person actually worked closely with and liked the person.

Particular anecdotes about how the applicant demonstrated their XYZ adjective e.g. "stayed late to finish cases routinely..... very knowledgable/gave a fantastic presentation on X topic...." were very helpful for me as were statements like "the group consensus was that bob performed at the level of an intern or even a mid-level resident".

But the easiest thing to look for was if the LOR writer says something like "one of the top [1-5] students I've ever worked with".

Unfortunately it'd be a bit much to ask your LOR writer specially to put stuff like that in your letter.

 

[TCOM12]

I read a lot off apps. I understand one form letter that is basically restating the CV... but one letter should be somewhat personal. If none are, I see it as a red flag.

Hard working, easy to get along with, that’s what I look for in applicants.