What's the deal with chairman's letters? Some of the programs I'm applying to specifically require one. I haven't worked much with him, as he's out of town now while I'm on rotation. From what it sounds like, I need to sit down with him, review my CV, transcript, scores, and personal statement, and ask him to get input from other staff and residents that I've worked with.
But today I talked with my advisor and he suggested that I should include my chairman's letter on every application, even the ones that aren't specifically requested on the program website, and that it's somewhat expected that I send one to every program. He also suggested that he thought that the number of letters each program wants doesn't include the chairman's letter. So he said I should assign three LORs and my chairman's letter as a fourth, to every program.
So my question is should I send the chairman's letter to everyone, even though it won't be one of my best ones? Do I just send my best ones to every program other than the ones that specifically ask for a chairman's letter? Or is my advisor correct that they expect a chairman's letter on top of the number that they ask for? As you can see I'm confused and would like to hear from people who matched in recent years or any staff who would know.
rwbrhp29
