Letters of Recommendation FAQ (PDF) - Pritzker School of Medicine

Pritzker Letters of Recommendation FAQ
Letters of Recommendation: Getting the Letters
• How Many Letters of Recommendation Do I Need?
Categorical
- 3 letters of recommendation are required.
- ERAS will not allow more than 4 letters per program
- Some specialties may require a Chair’s letter (see below)
- General rule:
3 clinical letters of recommendation
1 supplemental research letter (if relevant)
Prelim + Advanced
- 3 letters of recommendation are required for the prelim application
- 3 letters of recommendation are required for the advanced application
_______________
6 total letters
• Letter writers can use a modified version of the same letter for both applications. For
example, a faculty member from the Department of Medicine can use the same letter for
both the preliminary year in Medicine and the categorical application in Anesthesia. They
will just need to make sure that the opening sentence in the letter reads: “I am delighted to
recommend John Doe for your residency program.” Be sure to let the faculty member know
that you will be using his/her letter for both your prelim application and advanced
application!
• If you have asked a letter writer for two letters (e.g. one for a prelim year and one for an
Anesthesiology program), please finalize two distinct slots for these letters in ERAS. One
slot should note the specialty as “Prelim Year” and one slot should note the specialty as
“Anesthesiology.”
• Whom should I ask?
Faculty members who know you best and can strongly support their application. Clinical letters
are preferred. Research letters can be used as supplemental letters but not as primary letters.
It is more important for you to receive a detailed letter from a faculty member who knows you
well than from a “big name” faculty member who does not know you well.
• What information do I need to provide to letter writers?
We recommend asking your letter writers in person and bringing the following with you:
• Draft of your CV
• ERAS Cover Letter or SF Match Cover Letter
• AAMC identification number. This is the same number as your AMCAS number.
You can access this AAMC number once you have registered for ERAS. ERAS
tokens will be distributed on or around July 1.
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Pritzker Letters of Recommendation FAQ
• Which Specialties require a chair’s or section chief letter? (per UC program directors)
Department Process Co-written
by faculty?
Anesthesia
Some programs ask for a Yes
chair's letter; if so,
schedule a meeting with
Dr. Apfelbaum early in
your fourth year. The
office phone number is
2-2545.
Comments
Most chairman letters are written in
conjunction with either your advisor
(if it is not Dr. Apfelbaum) or one of
the faculty members in the
department with whom you have
rotated, so starting with one of these
individuals is the best manner in
which to proceed.
**If you are applying to advanced
programs and will need a prelim
year, remember you will need a
prelim medicine chair’s letter!
Medicine
***Prelim Medicine
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Med-Peds
Orthopaedic Surgery
(Chief letter)
Otolaryngology
(Chief letter)
Pediatrics
Plastic Surgery
(Chief letter)
Letter is written by and
co-signed by your
faculty advisor. You do
not need to contact Dr.
Vokes.
Letter is written by and
co-signed by your
faculty advisor. You do
not need to contact Dr.
Vokes.
Please contact Nancy
Martinez, the
Chairman’s Secretary, to
schedule an appointment
to meet with Dr.
Lengyel.
2 chair letters! Specialty
advisor(s) in Medicine
and Pediatrics will coauthor
the chair’s letters.
Set up a meeting with the
Director of Resident
Recruitment, Dr. Bielski.
Set up an appointment to
speak with Dr. Naclerio.
Contact Dr. Lolita
Alkureishi regarding this
request.
Set up an appointment to
speak with Section
Yes
Yes
Sometimes
Yes
(for both
Medicine
and Peds)
No
No
No
**If you are applying to advanced
programs and will need a prelim
year, remember you will need a
medicine chair’s letter!
The Chair’s letters are better if they
are written with personal insight and
knowledge of the candidate.
Sometimes the letter is co-written by
another member of the faculty who
knows the candidate in more detail.
ID an advisor within each
department. This faculty member
will serve as a co-author of the
Chairman’s letter. You do not need
to contact the chairmen directly.
The letter is a summary of the
student’s clinical performance during
the ENT Sub-Internship.
Chair’s letters are only required at a
few select programs, although
becoming more common. If research
was completed during training, then
students should have a letter from
their mentor.
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Pritzker Letters of Recommendation FAQ
Chief, Dr. Song. Please
contact his executive
assistant at 773-795-
0333.
Surgery Meet with Dr. Matthews No Contact Dr. Matthews’s office and
set up an appointment.
Urology (Chief letter) Speak with Dr. Shalhav’s
assistant Chernise at 773-
834-9889 to make an
appointment with him.
No
• Co-written Chair Letters
Dr. Vokes and Dr. Apfelbaum’s chair’s letters are co-written and co-signed by a faculty
member (generally specialty advisor). This means you will need to ask 3 faculty members to be
writers, one of whom will co-sign the chair’s letter.
Junior Faculty Member: If you would like a Chief Resident or junior faculty member
to write a letter of recommendation for you, the junior faculty member should write the Chair’s
letter. That way the chair’s signature can balance out the junior position of the co-signer.
• How do I get a Chairman’s Letter if he/she doesn’t know me?
It is best to contact the secretary in the department or seek your specialty advisor’s advice.
Letters of Recommendation: Logistics
• Where should my letters be sent?
Via email to:
ATTENTION: EILEEN WAYTE
Email: ResidencyLOR@bsd.uchicago.edu
Tel: (773) 834-3757 or (773) 834-4246
• When should all my letters be in?
Generally faculty will deliver their letters within 4-6 weeks of being asked by students. We
recommend that students begin asking letter writers in June/July.
We hope to get all letters in by early September. Faculty members should be given a deadline
of September 1, recognizing that many letters will come in approximately one to two weeks
later. Most program deadlines (but by no means all—this varies by discipline and by
program) are around November 1 st . However, we found that sometimes a program will not
invite students for interviews until all of their letters have arrived.
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Pritzker Letters of Recommendation FAQ
• Do I need to have all my letters of reference scanned into the Dean’s Work Station
before I can apply?
No, you can (and should) send in your application and assign your letters even if the letters
haven’t been received. Programs will be automatically notified by ERAS as additional letters
arrive.
• Do I have to designate all my letters at the time that I apply?
No, you can apply without designating any letters at all. You can apply with a few letters
designated and add letter writers later.
• What do I do if my letter hasn’t been received, I can’t get in touch with my letter writer,
and it is well after the 4-6 week period?
If it has been 6 weeks since a student requested a letter, it is appropriate for students to send a
reminder to their faculty letter writers. If it has been fewer than 4 weeks since a student asked
their letter writers but it is early September, students should let Eileen/Dana know and they
will follow up on student’s behalf.
In late August, Eileen and Dana will regularly generate reports from ERAS and will start
reminding faculty if any letters are missing.
• I am trying to decide which letter to assign to a certain program. Can you tell me if Dr. X
wrote a good letter?
Since you waived your right to see the letter, Pritzker staff cannot share this information with
students. Pritzker staff only looks at the letters of recommendation to make sure that the
correct letter is assigned and that there are no flagrant errors (wrong name, etc.)
• Can I change my personal statement and letters of reference even after I have assigned
them to programs?
Personal statement: Once you have sent a personal statement to a program, you may no
longer make changes to that specific document. If you want to make a change, you must unassign
the original document, create a new personal statement, and assign the new document.
However, un-assigning a personal statement does not erase it from a program’s records. A
program may already have downloaded and printed a hard copy of your file. Do not assume
they will not be able to reference your original document in the future.
Letters of Recommendation: Once an LoR is made available in the ERAS PostOffice and
you have assigned it to a program you have applied to, you will not be able to un-assign that
specific LoR from those programs. There are dangers associated with “over-tweaking” your
application. You have put a lot of thought already into writing your personal statements and
in selecting your letter writers. A last minute change may not be as well thought out as the
choices you have already made. Finally, programs will see your changes and may interpret
your behavior as indecisive.
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