Ortho2002
Registered User
Posts: 7
(2/22/01 6:33:08 pm)
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Question on Letters of Rec.
If you do away rotations, what is the best way to approach someone for a letter of recommendation? Is it
normal to be able to meet with the chairman and get a letter, or is an attending your best bet?
Thanks
crazy joe davola
Registered User
Posts: 15
(2/23/01 11:04:19 am)
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Question on Letters of Rec.
It depends, in my opinion.
For example, the chairman at one program was relatively inaccessible to student rotators except those on his
team, so I chose to ask one of the junior faculty on my team for a letter.
If you can get to know some of the older residents, they may know some political info that will help. For
example, the senior attending on my team was well-known, but he dislikes playing the politics game intensely,
so I was encouraged to ask the junior attending for a letter, and that plan worked out very well.
On the other hand, one of my letters from my home program was from a very well-known surgeon who did not
know me that well. No letter was mentioned more during all my interviews than that letter - "Oh, I know Dr.
Whositz, we go back a long way..." Now, whether that represents genuine enthusiasm or belief in what that
letter writer said is hard to know, but several interviewers talked about that letter, nonetheless.
OneRunner
Registered User
Posts: 12
(2/24/01 9:38:19 am)
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Letters
I would agree with CrazyJoe, in part. There are definitely names out there that carry a lot of weight with
them. BUT, a luke-warm letter from a big name will do you no good. So if you don?t know the person very
well, be careful before asking. Several of the programs with whom I interviewed scored letters to determine an
overall applicant score and I can say that the highest scores I was given were from the strongest letters not
the biggest names. I was given the most comments during my interviews on the strength of my letters and not
on the names behind them, despite having a couple of names. I even went outside of ortho for my fourth
letter and was very very pleased with the response most places had to the content of the letter.
orthosurg1
Registered User
Posts: 6
(2/24/01 10:37:21 am)
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Rec Letters
I have to second what one runner has said, and I think that in my dealings with many other applicants, they
would agree. Three comments: 1. At one of the places that I rotated, the secretary and some residents were
nice enough to tell me NOT to ask the chairman for a letter. They said that most likely he would not write it
because one it would only be lukewarm at best because of the true lack of tiime that rotators spend with the
chairman, and two because he is a very busy person. 2. I did get one big name letter, but I had worked with
the guy extensively. In my interviews, I know of several places that made the comment that this was one of
the first "good" letters that this certain guy had written. They explained by saying that they had seen many
applicants with a letter from this guy, but they were always "don't know this applicant very well, but the
residents seemed to like him." So be careful. 3. I also had a letter from outside the Ortho realm. All in all, I
received a lot more comments about that one letter than all of the rest combined. Overall, I would get to
know some Ortho attendings fairly well and ask people who will write you a strong letter. Once again, relax and
enjoy the journey.
