Would you do this for a guaranteed awesome LOR?

[realruby2000]

hey everyone,hoping to get some advice from you M4s and residents about a somewhat odd question I have...

I personally know an EM physician in a hospital down south who works with med students in 4 week elective rotations in EM but there's no EM program at his institution. Since getting excellent LORs is crucial I was thinking of mabey doing a 4 week elective down there and working with him. We already get along pretty well and I know that he would write me an amazing LOR if I worked with him. However, I feel kind of weird thinking about doing a 4 week rotation in a place I have no desire to live in or practice... just for the sole purpose of getting a great LOR.

If you personally knew an EM physician that would write you a phenomenal letter, would you rotate at his hospital even though you both know you don't want to practice there and that you're just there for the LOR?

thanx for the input

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[Seaglass]

Is this a DO thing?

 

[kungfufishing]

Of course you should rotate for the good LOR, but it might not hurt to be tactful and not announce "Im only rotating with you for a good LOR", especially in light of the fact that you will be furthering your education/experience, and if you already know the doc pretty well he'll probably let you do a lot. So I dont see how you can lose, especially if you dont have other great EM letters lined up. Well, I mean I guess you COULD lose if you got caught running a fence operation out of the ED while rotating there or something, but otherwise looks good.

 

[juliem3]

I'm not sure where "down south" your possibly going, but you could use it as an opportunity to peek in on some of the towns that ARE potential places for you to live/ do residency. Also, where did your EM physician friend go to Residency? If it was down south also, maybe you could work out a quick visit to the program where he trained.
Just some thoughts- good luck!

 

[cooldreams]

Is this a DO thing?

ouch...

 

[Seaglass]

Nothing personal, it's just my limited experience that DOs often go to places for rotations without residency programs. In the world of EM I think letters from non-residency programs are OK but nowhere near as helpful as letters from residency program attendings. Why? PDs know what it means when an attending at X residency program says John Doe is a "hard worker" etc. Unless the attending the OP is talking about here is well known to PDs far and wide, his letter won't carry nearly as much weight.

 

[realruby2000]

Is this a DO thing?

WTH? Why do you think this is a DO thing? If you read my whole post you'd see that the only reason I considered rotating at that hospital was because I knew an attending there. If he was at a hospital with a residency program, I would say the same thing. For the love of God, please don't degrade this thread to a D.O vs. M.D debate

However, I do understand what you're trying to say about getting a letter from a hospital with a residency program. It absolutely is a clear advantage but unfortunately this isn't the case in the situation I mentioned.

 

[realruby2000]

I'm not sure where "down south" your possibly going, but you could use it as an opportunity to peek in on some of the towns that ARE potential places for you to live/ do residency. Also, where did your EM physician friend go to Residency? If it was down south also, maybe you could work out a quick visit to the program where he trained.
Just some thoughts- good luck!

sorry, i should have been more specific. when I meant down south, i meant southern Illinois. my EM physician friend did his residency at Cook County in Chicago. I think they have some medical students rotating at his hospital but they dont have any official EM program.

 

[dlung]

tough call. I don't know if it's worth the four weeks you could be using for an audition away rotation. Unless he's well-known, the SLOR will make him look not so reliable if he only has a small number of students a year and there aren't any set standards of evaluation. Can you just pick up a handful of shifts with him during an independent study month or vacation time after 3rd year? That would be the optimal thing to do, I think.

I had a similar decision to make. My med school only has an affiliate EM program. Although I've known faculty and done research there since first year, I had to do a month at my school's ER to get the mandatory home med school dept chair letter. I had to choose if I'd either 1) do a second EM rotation in the same city at this affiliate to get a great LOR or 2) use that same time to do an away rotation to avoid being 'redundant.' I ended up doing two away EM rotations, and after getting back, am now just picking up random ER shifts at this affiliate when I have time to. Although I'm kind of pooped and in a sort of frantic scramble to get this LOR in on time, it's worked out well. Now I've got two LORs from away rotations, my chair LOR, and a well-rounded LOR from my research advisor. Uh, I hope that made sense... oh well.

 

[VentdependenT]

Chill out. The same question came to my mind.

Why not call up places that already have residencies and do an M4 rotation there. That seems the most logical route to achieve a LOR which will have at least some weight.

Tons of programs in Chicago and the surrounding burbs. Git on the phone.