what specialities accept LORs from staff in other specialities

[threecoins]

I wonder if any specialties accept LORs from staff from other specialties, I think that soem specilties such as EM can give LORs that cab be good in internal medicine 9 and probably other specialties) ,what do u think are the limits,considering that I will be doing electives in EM but still not sure which speciality I am going to for residency.

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[fourthyear]

I've been told (by people on recidency admission committees) that its generally good to have one or two letters outside your specialty - shows you are well rounded and worked hard on other rotations too. Definitely, EM and IM are related a LOT and would be good overlap for your LORs. Also peds would be a good one to support either of those.

Generally, the person who knows you best is the person who writes the best letter, regardless of specialty.

 

[threecoins]

consdiering that for international students like me, the time they can spend in electives in the us is limited and therefore u can only apply for a limited number of electives, what if I am going to EM elective because I like the nature of training it does provide yet I still have not decided whether i will go to medicine or surgery for residency< therefore If iapplied for an internal medicine residency with only letters from EM staff( wrriten by american doctors0 and LOr from Internal medicine in my country which i know are much less reliable, u think that will be OK?

 

[Winged Scapula]

I think the issue of having only EM LORs for an IM residency is much less of an issue than applying for a surgery position.

EM/IM letters are fairly interchangeable but having an LOR from an internist is of course preferred for that field. If your only choice is an LOR from your home country, then it will have to suffice. I shouldn't worry too much about something you can't change.

 

[ana]

All residencies take LORs from other specialties seriously if they are excellent letters. You just do not want that letter to say you are interested in a specialty that is different than the one you are applying for (I had a classmate who was applying to ob/gyn and surgery at the same time, he had a letter written by an ob/gyn accidentally sent to g surg that said he was totally into ob/gyn... obviously not appropriate).

 

[threecoins]

well thanks for the advice, I have been quite relieved to know that there is some degre of felxibility in the ealuation of LORs from other specialties, by the way what do u mean by "exceelent writers' , i mean what crieria would u suggest for a letter writer to be ecelent enoough to be take as a refernce even by other specialties?would he have to have earned Nobel prize or sthing?

I am going for a clinical EM elective at KUMC(kansas university medical center),and as far as I know the university there does not offer an EM residency , however it seems that they have a large and well equipped tertiary care EM department and i was was eondering whether the absence of a residency program affiliated with the EM department will affect the value of the LORs when considerd by other EM programs across the country or when considerd by other speciaties' residency programs.?

 

[ana]

Many of my letter writers sent me copies (unsolicted as I had waived my right to see them). Generally, these letters should speak highly of you both professionally and personally and they should not be generic. The letter should give the impression the person knows you well and would be enthusiastic about having you as a future colleague.

The best letters will be from attendings who like you and will have spent a lot of time with you. A couple of my letters were from subspecialty electives (eg, endocrinology) where I was the only student and could get to know my attendings and fellows very well.

 

[IM03NY]

Ana

So, this means your supervisors send the LOR straight to ECFMG/ ERAS, after sendiing you a copy is that right ?

How about overseas LOR ? Do they need to send straight ? Or could I collect them all and send myself ? Does anybody know the answer ??

Thanx.

 

[tecoboy]

I also am an IMG, and will be doing 5th Pathway next year (I am a student at a school in Mexico). I contacted ECFMG several months ago about how to handle the LofR's. Let me fill you in on what they told me.

1) ECFMG acts as your "Dean's Office" for the residency application process, all letters are handled through them for the residency application process

2) ECFMG does not want you to have letters sent to them until you are acutally in the application process which basically means you need your ERAS token#. In other words, if you are not applying for the Match next year then you need to wait until the following application year to have letters sent to ECFMG.

3) If you are doing rotations in the US and want letters from your attendings and/or the directors/chairs of the departments you have two options:
option A: request letters from them and have them give them back to you and you hold onto them until it is an appropriate time to send them in to ECFMG

option B: wait to request letters from them until you have initiated the application process (the danger in this is that the letter writer may forget about you and will become unreliable at a crucial time in your application process; that is, unless you keep in contact with them up to the time you need their letter)

I asked ECFMG if it mattered if the letter writers sent them directly or if the student held onto them and sent them later.
They responded by telling me that all letters get scanned by ECFMG and are labeled as unoriginal copies whether or not they were received directly from the letter writer or from the student. Therefore, for IMG's all letters are essentially equivalent.

ECFMG also told me that is is best that the student have an original copy of the letter anyway since you will need it during the scramble process in the event that you dont match.

I hope this information is of help to you.