where did your LORs come from?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

le loup

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Ive been told that besides the obvious anesthesiologist LOR, a surgeon's LOR is important as a second letter and the third can be from any specialty. i would love to hear what kind of letters yall had and what your thoughts are on what might be the best combo, assuming they are all strong letters.

thanks

Members don't see this ad.
 
I don't think the specialty matters too much. I used letters from the chair at my home anesthesia program, a family med attending, and an IM attending.
 
I submitted the same four to all programs.

1) seasoned Anesthesiology attending in a residency program with 20+ years of experience
2) Director of Internal Medicine at an academic medical center who I had the opportunity to work with closely on several occasions
3) Chief of Vascular Surgery at an academic medical center who was my mentor during my surgery clerkship
4) Family Practice Physician in the community who I rotated with and knew me well

The main idea is to get at least one strong Anesthesiology letter plus at least one surgery or one internal medicine letter. The letters in the other medical disciplines besides Anesthesiology should demonstrable you are a strong well-rounded candidate who is personable, hard working, and empathetic. Start rounding up these letters early. I typically asked an attending on each rotation I did starting mid-way through third year. By the time third year ended I had all of the letters I needed which were being safely held by my Dean's office. This took a lot of stress off the whole application process knowing I had letters secured.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Anes x 2, OB/GYN, cardiologist.

Have a buddy who had 2 surgeons and a cardiologist, no anes. No problem getting interviews.
 
Try to get a letter of recommendation from the chair of your anesthesiology department. Set up an appointment, send them your CV and personal statement and if you have a copy of your anesthesia rotation grades/evaluation bring that too. Some programs expect a letter from a director of something in the anesthesia department.
 
Anesthesiology x2 (chairman & PD)
Surgery (chairman)
IM (assistant PD)

I'd worked pretty extensively one-on-one with all of my letter writers.
 
thanks for the responses. im a DO student, thus have no home anesthesiology department where i can get a letter. im actually stressing quite a bit over LORs, because I dont have any yet. i have a standing offer from a pediatrician if i write my own, but im not sure how valuable that letter may be (plus, to be honest ive been avoiding writing my own because im afraid it will be a weak letter or obvious that it was self written). im waiting on a letter from OB/GYN (got honors in rotation and spent a lot of time with one attending), but im not counting on it because its been a while and he hasnt written it yet despite a reminder i sent a few months ago.

its frustrating to have worked hard to be in the top 15% of the class, >230/600 on boards, honors and HP all rotations but not have any LORs yet. i have my surgery block coming up and plan on working my ass off to get a letter from that rotation.

anyway, i kind of went on a tangent but thank you for responses.
 
Anesthesia (Peds Anesthesia Fellowship PD)
Anesthesia (Former Anesthesia Res PD)
Anesthesia (random one who knew me well from rotation)
Cardio (Cardiology Fellowship PD)
Internal Med (IM PD --- but ended up not using it)
 
My school also doesn't have an Anesthesia residency, so I was in a similar position. I got one letter from a PP anesthesiologist that I spent some time with, also got a letter from my medicine clerkship director and the chair of the department of surgery.

I had planned on getting one from my away, but we start 4th year later than most and it was late by the time I got to do my away and I was already getting invites so I simply skipped it. Worked out fine.
 
Anesthesia - chairman
Anesthesia - assistant prof/assistant PD
IM - full prof
Surgery - assistant prof

Sent the same 4 to all programs (including prelims/TYs)
 
As long as you have 1 letter from anesthesia it should be fine. My three letters were from 1 anesthesiologist, 1 pulmonary/ critical care doc, and 1 IM.

The most important thing is to get someone who will write you an outstanding letter that will stand out. Second importance to me would be what position your letter writer has, I was given this ranking by a PD. 1. Residency PD or clerkship PD. 2. Academic faculty in specialty. 3. Chair is a department (he said if you do have a letter from a chair it better be really obvious that they know you incredibly well and this is not just the 12th letter they are writing for a med student in the class because it is expected) 3. PP in specialty.

It's always good to be on top of finding writers, but I switched specialties late and asked for 2 letters in late November and got in to my top choice. I got multiple comments on 1 letter in particular that was I requested late, and was from IM/CC, and was someone who finished her fellowship a few months earlier. I think this helped me out immensely on the interview trail, and I think it shows that it is content over who wrote it that is of most importance.

Good luck.
 
Top