I would love to know the answer to that question along with whether we need to submit our Chairman's letter if a program doesn't specifically say that they want it on their website. I mean, if we haven't worked with our chairman and our other letters are stronger is it ok to leave it out or will it look bad?
I've also heard a rumor that programs can (and do) look at all the letters that are in our ERAS application even if we did not designate all the letters for that program. Any truth to that?
Some programs specifically ask for a Chief Resident's letter (i.e. Harvard) and many ask for a Chairman's letter. If the program does not ask for one then I would not send a chief resident's letter and you have to gauge the Chairman letter by how well you know him or her - if you have stronger Ortho letters then I would go with them. If you're trying to decide between a non-ortho letter and your chairman letter, however, I would lean towards the Ortho Chairman letter.
Received an email a few days back stating that Harvard will no longer require the Chief Resident LOR. As far as I know, Harvard was the only program that required a LOR from a resident, please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.
I also just received this feedback from some of the Columbia students who rotated at Harvard - so unless someone else knows of any other programs it appears you don't need a chief resident's letter of rec!
