Concerns about Dean's Letter

[misfit]

Howdy all:

I have some questions about the Dean's Letter. At our school, one of four academic deans is assigned to you to write it. Well, I have an interest in Anesthesia and I got a very cool reception about it from my writer, who is a surgeon. (Note: I do not want this to be another blood vs. brain barrier argument). In fact, he said in a snide tone, "Well, if you wanna make more money than me, then by all means, go off and be an anesthesiologist." Plus, he did not take my CV or personal statement and spent another half hour telling me all my mistakes through the 3rd year and how "I will have be very creative to come up with something to explain all this." WTF???

So, as you might expect, I left this meeting feeling a bit chilled and confused. So, as of today I received my first draft of his letter. It included EVERY bad comment made during my med school career and then, at the end, in summary, says "I recommend him..."

As I was led to believe, merely saying "recommend" is the kiss of death!!! Supposedly, it suggests I am at the bottom quartile of my class, but I know for a fact I am not. I am in the upper 1/3 of my class.

So, two things:

1) Any recommendations about how to deal with this matter?

2) What is the secret code language used in summary to indicate a student's standing?

I appreciate any insightful responses.

misfit

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[juliem3]

Some folks say that the Dean's Letter looks roughly the same no matter who writes it, but it sounds like you got a bit shafted. I would try to make an appt with another of the Academic Deans and check it over with them.
Good luck!

 

[Jaded Soul]

The Dean's Letter is supposed to be standardized and is really not supposed to be that personal. There are guidelines published by the AAMC on the format HERE. It's not supposed to be a letter of recommendation.

As for secret language, I don't know about other schools, but at mine we get assigned an adjective--Outsanding, Excellent, Good, Satisfactory (or something similar )--that corresponds to your standing in the class.

If it was me, I'd see who else I could talk in the administration to review the letter.

 

[longwoodguy]

That doesn't sound right - particularly if you are in the top 1/3! 'recommend' does come off as weak for someone of that rank, IMHO. take the draft to another dean.

 

[stormjen]

Jesus, you have every right to have a new letter written, by someone else. The dean's letter is supposed to HELP you, not hurt you. Yes, it does indicate your relative standing in your class (and this standing is supposed to be accurate), but it's supposed to put even a low ranking in a positive light, e.g. "so-and-so is a good student" rather than "so-and-so is an excellent student".

Get this taken care of pronto! The person who wrote it should be reprimanded.

 

[zoolander]

You have to act really fast on this one to get things tied up by November 1st.

-Decide how far you want to take it. Obviously this guy/person is being completely unethical and biased. He probably has in the past and will continue to be in the future- unfortunately someone will have to be the test case to prove it. And every student probably just wants to get out and get into residency.

-See if you can switch advisors. You'll need a good reason to do so (everyone else will have probably been getting away from him for the past 2-3 years) so try "the specialty is closer to my interests" or "I feel that a surgeon could better comment on the skill set needed in anesthesia." They'll read between the lines on your opinion. This might be your strongest angle since it's not based on his incompetence.

-Check with your allies-advisors, favorite attendings- in anesthesia. On the whole letters from anes, their chair, and high-profile people will matter more than your deans letter since it's from people the other departments probably know well. Ask them what they think-probably more than happy to stand up for the honor of their field, and would want to know if an academic dean is criticizing their field- and make sure those letters are optimal.

-Definitely register your complaint somewhere- even if just with the random "Student Ombudsperson". There could be a whole pattern that already emerged w/this advisor, all info to the administration will be a part of that.

-Minimize the damage: make sure just the 'evaluative comments' and not the 'formative comments' (if they're organized that way) are in your letter. Work with the proofreaders to correct/minimize these negative comments. Take it to an outside/different person in the administration to get another point of view (ie, "does this seem appropriate for the Dean's letter?")

-As for the top 1/3rd, if you can prove it w/numbers (NBME or grades/# publications/evals or honors/awards) definitely do. The final sentence language might go as follows into three tiers:

XXX is an (outstanding) (excellent) (good) student who I recommend with (highest) (high) (no qualifier) enthusiasm.

The administration might tell you that these qualifiers don't matter, but they definitely do.

Too much of your time, money, and future plans are riding on the outcome to leave it to chance.

This sounds exactly like my med school- this guy lost his job in biotech 3-4 years ago and has no business advising students on anything. PM me if Qs/for specific suggestions.

 

[16846]

Who actually writes the "Dean's Letter" ?

We have a Dean of Basic Sciences, a Dean of Clinical Sciences, as well as a Dean of the Medical School. Do they all contribute, or does one of them typically write the letter?

I know the Dean of Basic Sciences well (being a basic sciences student), but I doubt I will ever meet the Dean of Clinical Sciences or the Dean of the Medical School. How can someone write a letter about you if they wouldn't know who you are if you burst into flame while standing next to them on the subway?

 

[doc05]

Dean of Clinical Science (or something similar) usually writes the letter. As for the OP's comments, I wonder if the advisor was in fact, just trying to be humorous with his comments. What sort of "mistakes" was he referring to??

As for "recommend", that is definitely a problem. I think the code words vary from school to school, but make sure things are changed asap.

 

[misfit]

Thank you to all who responded. Here is an update:

I found that the Dean's secretary is the one who does a lot of the gruntwork in writing the letters, but also has a hand in designing it. I know her well, have for the past 3 1/2 years, and so I met with her yesterday to go over the changes I made. Although there can be no guarantee, she thought the changes were excellent and said she would recommend to the Dean to put my revisions into effect. So (fingers crossed)...

I also have a backup plan. First off, I did things by protocol. I called the Dean's secretary and just submitted my revisions, as we are supposed to do. Now, if that does not work, I am allowed to seek out another Dean (we have 4 clinical deans who write letters), one that I trust and know well, and he noted he would be willing to look over my letter and discuss my grievances.

Some good news came from the Anesthesia Chairman who is writing one of my LOR. He is also my unofficial mentor and I meet with him on a regular basis. He took a look at my Dean's Letter, noted who the Dean was, and said, "Oh,s**t, I knew we were going to have problems with this guy!"

Apparently, it is well-known in the Anesthesia community at our school that this Dean has never been a fan of gas passers and is not particularly a student advocate. My Chairman looked through my record, compared it to my letter, and became furious that I had been "slandered" (actually, libel, if in print) and noted my record is nowhere near the mess my Dean portraited me to be. He made some calls to another Dean and arranged for me to get my case heard if I "do not get satisfaction."

So, thanks again for the advice and I hope things will work in my favor. I try not to be a whiner, but this IS my career at stake and I really feel I was done a major disservice (for whatever reason). I am glad I had some options available to me. I will keep you all updated. Thanks.

misfit

 

[Jamezuva]

good job that should teach the surgeon some manners

 

[juliem3]

Glad that you made some progress. Word of advice- don't think you're being a whiner about this. You may feel that way initially because by nature most of us are pretty rule-abiding authority respectin' kind of folks. . . but this guy is abusing his authority and you need to call him out on it. There's no place for that kind of crap.
Keep us updated!

 

[stormjen]

There's a difference between whining and standing up for youself. You're the only one who is going to get your butt into a residency program. Way to fight back.