Which type of LoR would you like to see?

[akani]

Having trouble deciding which LoRs to send...Crossing fingers to match at a top 10, better than average step 1 & 2, mid-level med school, hoping for a career in academia involving clinical research. I have 1 IM letter and a choice of 3 psych letters to send. They are:

1. Letter from research PI (PhD, non-clinical, published first author abstract/presentation in SOBP, first author pub provisionally accepted to Drug and Alcohol Dependence)
2. Letter from PD at my school (likely pretty good letter)
3. Letter from attending/associate prof (likely very strong letter)
4. Letter from world-renowned psych prof (likely pretty good letter)

Right now, I plan on for sure sending 3 and 4 to all schools and having trouble deciding between 1 and 2. I feel like 1 will give more info but 2 may be weighed highly given its from a PD. Which one do you think would help me be most competitive? If you have a different combo you'd recommend, please share! This is really eating away at me and I would appreciate all the insight I can get!

Thank you.

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[kopftonmd]

Why not send all four? I know some programs let you

 

[akani]

Why not send all four? I know some programs let you

I think all programs expect one non psych LoR

 

[soporific]

if you are presenting yourself as an aspiring researcher of some sort would include 1

 

[kopftonmd]

I think all programs expect one non psych LoR

That's what I get for not reading the whole post, my bad. Agree with above tho, if you want to talk about research, the research letter would be helpful.

 

[Bartelby]

I like #1, 3, 4 the most. #4 as long as it is fairly good will go far.

I think letters mean the most to me as a reviewer in the following order:
1 - I know and trust the letter writer (I have worked with them, they are a friend, etc.)
2 - The letter comes from someone very well-known and is a solid letter
3 - The letter comes from someone not really well-known and who I am not familiar with, but it is absolutely glowing and clearly has lots of detail showing that they know you well.
4 - The letter is positive, but not gushing (this is pretty neutral)
5 - The letter is mildly positive or lukewarm (this is a yellow flag; most rec letters are very positive these days)

 

[Bartelby]

And the above are for letters by physicians. For PhDs it would be on a case by case basis for me. One from a research mentor / PI is a clearly valuable and relevant letter.

 

[usoggyojimbo]

I think all programs expect one non psych LoR

I don't know if this is true. I've probably looked at 50 residency websites and almost all of them have said something like "we want 3 LOR, at least one that is psych." Only 1 or 2 specified wanting a letter outside of psych.

 

[akani]

I like #1, 3, 4 the most. #4 as long as it is fairly good will go far.

I think letters mean the most to me as a reviewer in the following order:
1 - I know and trust the letter writer (I have worked with them, they are a friend, etc.)
2 - The letter comes from someone very well-known and is a solid letter
3 - The letter comes from someone not really well-known and who I am not familiar with, but it is absolutely glowing and clearly has lots of detail showing that they know you well.
4 - The letter is positive, but not gushing (this is pretty neutral)
5 - The letter is mildly positive or lukewarm (this is a yellow flag; most rec letters are very positive these days)

Awesome, appreciate the insight! This is what I was feeling as well. Will proceed with that combo. Thank you!

 

[akani]

I don't know if this is true. I've probably looked at 50 residency websites and almost all of them have said something like "we want 3 LOR, at least one that is psych." Only 1 or 2 specified wanting a letter outside of psych.

Yea I've seen that too. I think it was standard to send one non-psych LoR but w/ COVID that may have been waived. Either way, I figure if they normally like to see one non-psych letter, it would probably help to include one even though it is not specified.

 

[brazilianpsych]

I will only have psych LORs, is that bad?

PS: psychiatrist IMG, no idea where I would even get a IM letter or something like that. Maybe Neuro would be possible

 

[Central_SOULcus]

I will only have psych LORs, is that bad?

PS: psychiatrist IMG, no idea where I would even get a IM letter or something like that. Maybe Neuro would be possible

I would take a look at the websites for your programs. Following their exact instructions is more important than what we can conjecture because every program is different. If a program says "4 letters, at least one non-psych letter," then yes I think it would look "bad" (to use your word) if you don't have a non-psych LOR. If a program says "4 letters, at least one from psychiatry," then you are technically following their directions by only sending psych LORs. If you think you could get a strong neuro letter now, then certainly get it because as you know, we do 2 months of neuro as psych interns.

 

[usoggyojimbo]

I would take a look at the websites for your programs. Following their exact instructions is more important than what we can conjecture because every program is different. If a program says "4 letters, at least one non-psych letter," then yes I think it would look "bad" (to use your word) if you don't have a non-psych LOR. If a program says "4 letters, at least one from psychiatry," then you are technically following their directions by only sending psych LORs. If you think you could get a strong neuro letter now, then certainly get it because as you know, we do 2 months of neuro as psych interns.

This is how I feel. If programs wanted variety, I would hope they would use their words and say so on their website. I think you always want whatever letters you think will be strongest. All else being equal, having one from neuro instead of all from psych might be nice.

 

[phonyreal98]

Go for the strongest letters. I had three letters- two from psychiatrists who knew me well and one from my PhD advisor who is a well known psych researcher and did quite well with interviews. (This was last years cycle)