Survey Question: How many letters did you get? From whom? Advice?
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Don't be afraid to ask for letters. The faculty know what it's like to apply to uro and are happy to help.
I asked for a total of six letters:
1) Chair, Dr Koch: This is a must 2) Dr Rink: very well known for peds uro 3) Dr Birhle: very well known. The downside is that Dr. Birhle is notorious for being late with his letters. Good luck getting it done. 4) Dr Sundaram: First letter turned in! Doing research with him hopefully resulted in a very personal letter. 5) Away Chair: It's important to get the chairs letter from your away rotation. 6) Away program director: I did some research during my away rotation. Also, i didn't know if the chair would write me a letter in which case this could serve as a backup.
You really only need 3; additional letters don’t do you much good. You must have a strong letter from Dr. Koch. For the other 2 letters, choose the most famous attendings that know you. On your sub-I, concentrate your OR and clinic time with the attendings that you plan to ask for letter. I did not get a letter from my away rotation because it was so late (September) and because the chairman was gone so much that I hardly worked with him.
Five letters- 1- Dr. Koch (absolute must!) 2- Dr. Sundaram (we did research together) 3- faculty at another institution where I had done non-urologic research for a year 4- Chairman from away rotation (M Benson) 5- Vice-chair from the other away rotation because that chairman was absent frequently (V Nitti)
You need letters from big names whose opinions will be respected and accepted; however, it's important that at least a couple of those letters are from people who really know you and aren't going to write generic letters.
I had four letters: 1. Dr. Koch-must have. I was a little intimidated to ask, but he was very friendly and happy to do it. He asked me what strengths I wanted him to highlight. So think about that.
2. Dr. Masterson-I felt I knew him the best
3/4. Chairs from my two aways. Wisconsin and Loyola
All of the staff at IU were incredibly helpful and willing to write letters. Dr. Koch wrote me a very good letter and several program directors at other interviews mentioned how good his letter was. I also asked Dr. Sundaram because I did research with him and he was helpful. Dr. Cain offered to write me a letter and I really regret not asking for one because he is such a great person and is very well respected, but I already had 4 letters and did not want to inconvenience him. Only suggestion I have is to ask early and often, as everyone at IU is incredibly busy. I would get at least 2 from IU and 1-2 from other programs if you do an away rotation. The Dean's letter does not matter and many program directors admit they do not even look at it, so I had a EM doctor who knew me well write it because he really wanted to
Like people said above, Dr. Koch is a must have and seems to writ excellent letters. I would say that people that know you well are more likely to say great things about you and that going just for the name can actually end up hurting you. I got a letter from a big name chair that is very well known but also known for writing very basic letters that don't mean anything. During interviews, people mentioned how much the people I knew liked me and rarely did they mention the other guy besides the fact that it was obvious I had done an away there.
I actually got 4 letters. The chair and PD's from the home and aways. Just make sure you get your name out there, work hard, show them that you're socially competent, and you'll get a good letter. Always get letters from the chairs of programs though. I met with the faculty once early to let them know I was gonna ask for a letter and kind of to meet them in general, and then again at the end of the month to actually ask for my letter.
8 comments:
Don't be afraid to ask for letters. The faculty know what it's like to apply to uro and are happy to help.
I asked for a total of six letters:
1) Chair, Dr Koch: This is a must
2) Dr Rink: very well known for peds uro
3) Dr Birhle: very well known. The downside is that Dr. Birhle is notorious for being late with his letters. Good luck getting it done.
4) Dr Sundaram: First letter turned in! Doing research with him hopefully resulted in a very personal letter.
5) Away Chair: It's important to get the chairs letter from your away rotation.
6) Away program director: I did some research during my away rotation. Also, i didn't know if the chair would write me a letter in which case this could serve as a backup.
You really only need 3; additional letters don’t do you much good. You must have a strong letter from Dr. Koch. For the other 2 letters, choose the most famous attendings that know you. On your sub-I, concentrate your OR and clinic time with the attendings that you plan to ask for letter.
I did not get a letter from my away rotation because it was so late (September) and because the chairman was gone so much that I hardly worked with him.
Three. I had letters from Foster, Rink, and J Smith (Vanderbilt). In addition, Dr. Koch was my advisor and had written my Dean's letter.
Five letters-
1- Dr. Koch (absolute must!)
2- Dr. Sundaram (we did research together)
3- faculty at another institution where I had done non-urologic research for a year
4- Chairman from away rotation (M Benson)
5- Vice-chair from the other away rotation because that chairman was absent frequently (V Nitti)
You need letters from big names whose opinions will be respected and accepted; however, it's important that at least a couple of those letters are from people who really know you and aren't going to write generic letters.
I had four letters:
1. Dr. Koch-must have. I was a little intimidated to ask, but he was very friendly and happy to do it. He asked me what strengths I wanted him to highlight. So think about that.
2. Dr. Masterson-I felt I knew him the best
3/4. Chairs from my two aways. Wisconsin and Loyola
All of the staff at IU were incredibly helpful and willing to write letters. Dr. Koch wrote me a very good letter and several program directors at other interviews mentioned how good his letter was. I also asked Dr. Sundaram because I did research with him and he was helpful. Dr. Cain offered to write me a letter and I really regret not asking for one because he is such a great person and is very well respected, but I already had 4 letters and did not want to inconvenience him. Only suggestion I have is to ask early and often, as everyone at IU is incredibly busy. I would get at least 2 from IU and 1-2 from other programs if you do an away rotation. The Dean's letter does not matter and many program directors admit they do not even look at it, so I had a EM doctor who knew me well write it because he really wanted to
Like people said above, Dr. Koch is a must have and seems to writ excellent letters. I would say that people that know you well are more likely to say great things about you and that going just for the name can actually end up hurting you. I got a letter from a big name chair that is very well known but also known for writing very basic letters that don't mean anything. During interviews, people mentioned how much the people I knew liked me and rarely did they mention the other guy besides the fact that it was obvious I had done an away there.
I actually got 4 letters. The chair and PD's from the home and aways. Just make sure you get your name out there, work hard, show them that you're socially competent, and you'll get a good letter. Always get letters from the chairs of programs though. I met with the faculty once early to let them know I was gonna ask for a letter and kind of to meet them in general, and then again at the end of the month to actually ask for my letter.
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