what to do about attendings not writing LOR

[myrandom2003]

So I have a dilemma... I have decided to apply to fellowships and kind of late in the game. I have my CV and personal statement done and applications filled out and all that stuff...

my problem is that my program is fairly small and has 7 attendings total. 2 of them I havent worked with and one is the PD... I asked three people and the PD for a rec letter. All 4 said they would love to write one for me (the three nonPD attendings gave me outstanding evals when i worked with them). However to date, only one has written a letter for me, and I basically wrote one for the PD to sign because apparently thats what had to be done in the past (which of course he is totally taking his time to read it)...Now i need at least one letter from either of the two other attendings and when asked both keep telling me that they need just a little bit more time. This is incredibly frustrating especially since programs are on rolling admission basis and already sending interviews.
All the programs require at least 3 letters, and one being from the PD. So far I have a grand total of one fully complete letter. I told them all that I wanted to send everything in by the beginning of June.
Any advice on what to do??
(I don't think anyone else in my program is applying this year for fellowships)

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[Ludicolo]

Tough situation. When you asked everyone for letters…did you give them enough advance notice? Regardless, you gave your PD and attendings an early June deadline, they all agreed to it, and IMHO not having written the letters by the deadline is unprofessional. Frankly, it does not take that long to write a 1-2 page letter, if you know the resident. Be persistent in reminding them, but not annoying. Emphasize the rolling admissions factor. You can tell them that your future fellowship coordinators have the rest of your application, and are ready to schedule interviews, but are just waiting on your LORs (which may or may not be true…only you know for sure).

 

[topwise]

I agree. Let them each know that the application is only waiting on their letter and perhaps ask them if there's anything at all that you can do to facilitate the process. If you're persistent (but not to the point of being annoying), hopefully one of them will come through.

My letter-writers all sent out their letters within a week of my request, without having to be asked a second time, which I was very grateful for. I wasn't quite so lucky with my residency applications and had to recruit a 4th writer in order to avoid missing a deadline.

 

[myrandom2003]

Could having my chief resident from last year who is now an attending write a letter on my behalf, be an option?

 

[Ludicolo]

Could having my chief resident from last year who is now an attending write a letter on my behalf, be an option?

As a last resort, if desperate times call for desperate measures, possibly. I’m personally not a fan of this, since the former chief never directly supervised you (I’m assuming) in a clinical setting.

 

[lobelsteve]

I just skipped them and went to the dean. It is part of their responsibility. If they cannot get their residents in desirable fellowships, they get badmouthed on Scutwork and here. My former PD actually wrote an anonymous letter telling my fellowship PD to drop me.

Love it.

 

[myrandom2003]

I tried the "they are waiting on your letter to schedule the interviews" approach. Both attendings said they would get it to me by next week... now I am worried about the quality of the letters if they feel forced to write it. None of them were actually coerced into writing one, and were given ample time to write the letters (and i asked them all if they would feel comfortable in writing one for me, and all said yes)... kind of feels like i am in a fail-fail situation... thats life i guess

 

[Redmen27]

When do you actually start hearing back from fellowships about interviews? I sent my apps in about three weeks ago and have been told by most programs that they don't even look at the apps until early July. Are some already scheduling interviews?

 

[topwise]

I don't know much about how these applications work, but is it possible to get your former chief to write you a letter just so your application is completed? Could the other letters then later be *added* to your application?

It sucks that they put you in this uncomfortable position....

 

[axm397]

When do you actually start hearing back from fellowships about interviews? I sent my apps in about three weeks ago and have been told by most programs that they don't even look at the apps until early July. Are some already scheduling interviews?

yes.

see pain medicine forum

 

[GoodmanBrown]

So I have a dilemma... I have decided to apply to fellowships and kind of late in the game. I have my CV and personal statement done and applications filled out and all that stuff...

my problem is that my program is fairly small and has 7 attendings total. 2 of them I havent worked with and one is the PD... I asked three people and the PD for a rec letter. All 4 said they would love to write one for me (the three nonPD attendings gave me outstanding evals when i worked with them). However to date, only one has written a letter for me, and I basically wrote one for the PD to sign because apparently thats what had to be done in the past (which of course he is totally taking his time to read it)...Now i need at least one letter from either of the two other attendings and when asked both keep telling me that they need just a little bit more time. This is incredibly frustrating especially since programs are on rolling admission basis and already sending interviews.
All the programs require at least 3 letters, and one being from the PD. So far I have a grand total of one fully complete letter. I told them all that I wanted to send everything in by the beginning of June.
Any advice on what to do??
(I don't think anyone else in my program is applying this year for fellowships)

Man, I totally feel your pain. I'm obviously at a much earlier part of my path, but I've had 2 of my letter writers pull a total black-out and stop responding to my e-mails, phone calls, and Facebook messages. To me it's a frustrating lack of professionalism. But, like you said, I guess that's life.

 

[rehab_sports_dr]

When I was a resident, one of hte attendings gave some advice about asking for letters, and I thought it was good advice. I try to give this advice to residents when they ask me for letters:

1. Try to gauge whether the person really wants to write a letter. It's best if they express consistent enthusiasm

2. Ask if there are things that you can do to make their life easier

3. Make out self addressed and stamped envelopes for them, so they don't have to think about it

4. Also give them a copy of your CV

5. This is something I really like- some suggestion of what they want in the letter. There are a couple of ways to do this:
a. I used to give my attendings bullet points of things I thought were important- either things about me that I thought warranted emphasis, or thing about the fellowship that may not be obvious to the letter writer
b. Write a model of the letter. I sometimes ask residents to do this for me. I never use their letter- I always write a new one from scratch. But it is very useful for me to hear in their own words what they think is important.


Major take-home point- do what you can to make the attendings life easier.

Also, I have needed reminders to write letters, and didn't mind (I felt embarrassed I forgot). So, at least for me, I appreciate the reminders.

 

[myrandom2003]

Those are excellent suggestions. I went with the cv and personal statement for the fellowships, as well as deadlines and reminders. I even wrote 2 letters and gave them to 2 of the attendings. They all seem very enthusiastic to write the letter when i asked (except the PD, he always makes it seem that any extra work he has to do is a big nuisance, that and he feels fellowships are not as useful as working as a junior faculty member at the residency program).

Anyone ever heard of someone getting a fellowship without the required number of rec letters?

I guess the last two years, the previous residents also had a lot of trouble getting letters, which explains the decline in fellowships in our program.

 

[myrandom2003]

So my letter writers, except the PD, have turned in their letters to the secretary to send them to the various places. However, I have two questions.

1) They each apparently turned in one copy of the letter. So the secretary was going to make copies and send them out. Photocopies of letters looks kind of bad right?

2)One of the letter writers is the Assistant PD, would that be enough?

Just wondering what you all think. Thanks for your help.

 

[olafa]

This is what I did--
I'd give the dept sec a list of the places you are applying with addresses and who to address the letter to, this way he/she can print out individualized letter. I think some programs even specificall state the won't accept a letter addressed to whom it may concern. Beside it just looks more professional and less sloppy.
Good luck with pulling teeth to get letters....

So my letter writers, except the PD, have turned in their letters to the secretary to send them to the various places. However, I have two questions.

1) They each apparently turned in one copy of the letter. So the secretary was going to make copies and send them out. Photocopies of letters looks kind of bad right?

2)One of the letter writers is the Assistant PD, would that be enough?

Just wondering what you all think. Thanks for your help.