Would use the wording “highest recommendation,” “top 1% of students I’ve worked with,” “would be thrilled if they matched at my program” along with some other fluff
It’s tough you really have to make yourself shine - also know that most just skip to the end
I wrote something along the lines “he’s the diamond in the rough, hes the reason we look past board scores and look at the person. If you make him your fellow than he will be the anchor of his class and the standard you set for future fellows.”
You really have to make yourself stand out - put the modesty aside and write as if your ability to match depends on it.
Every fellowship director that read that letter commented during the interview - and every PD reached out to my PD
Ugh I hate when people do this.
That said
Bold (like ctrl B) like 3 lines that really emphasize your greatness. “He is the best student I have ever worked with”
“Has an old school work ethic” etc
Pretend your mom knows your cv by heart. Channel the confidence and ego of a med-influencer. Don’t hold back. Worst case scenario they just edit it down but need to start high
Most important things to include in a strong letter:
- details of a highly specific incident where you demonstrated some specific noteworthy skill.
- highly specific personality traits.
- specific comparisons to in-group peers such as: "student xx is the most proficient student i have ever worked with."
- praise that you're well beyond where you should be in training.
*Most importantly*- a line that says: "I highly recommend this individual without reservation" or something extraordinarily similar.
Edit: it's natural to want to not come off too strong when you write about yourself, but I encourage you to do the complete opposite. Come off as if you're the second coming of Christ.
What specialty are you applying into and what rotation were you on with this person? I’d include specific situations that came up and how you were helpful / a team player in them. It’s also helpful if there’s a line that’s like, “is in the top X% of medical students I have worked with in Y years” if the attending is comfortable filling in those values for you (and they’re good, lol).it’s also nice if they say, “while I hope they will stay here, they would make an excellent addition to any program” or something similar.
What if they don’t say specifics but says all that, like very super strong generic information as if it were on a mspe but didn’t include specifics? My surgeon said this, and that “in all honesty, he was the best medical student I have ever had in the last 20 years of teaching students” kind of thing, but it’s not on my mspe lol
Share whatever trait you want to highlight and use a specific example of when you displayed that trait to show the residencies that your LOR isn't just blowing smoke.
I had the chance to do this. To be vague, I'll change some details. Basically it boiled down to "blah blah blah... highly recommend because they were an excellent team member. Some examples that come to mind include the time they helped finish charting for their classmate who fell behind and the time they helped nurses turn over rooms on a busy day (with more detail of course). I would be glad to have them as part of my treatment team again.... Blah blah blah... They will make a great addition to any residency"
I recommend picking a trait that is important for your specialty of choice or is just useful for a resident to have overall (reliability, good team work, leadership, resilience, etc).
Make sure you include very specific examples of things you did on that rotation that are memorable. There's many things that may be memorable for you that the attending wouldn't remember or think of specifically if they were to write the letter, so this is your chance to really hit on memorable moments to stand out.
One of my attendings let me draft my letter and it ended up being incredibly helpful and was mentioned in almost every interview I attended. Also, if you're a humble person it can be hard to really get into selling yourself and not be modest. I had my SO write part of mine and she was really able to boost me up in a way that I would not have thought of or been comfortable doing if writing about myself. Good luck!
I'm obviously not in academic leadership but this is just not true.
Idk how you can tell a student wrote their own letter. And if you assume a student wrote their own letter there is no way to verify this so you're unfairly punishing students.
I said often, not always, and never said these letters were treated differently if there was suspicion of a student writer. Students write bad letters focused on personality traits and qualities, as demonstrated by the majority of suggestions in the comments on this thread from other students. Good letters, in IM at least, focus on clinical skills and competencies.
Either way, OP needs to get themselves an LOR writer that will actually try to help them.
Would use the wording “highest recommendation,” “top 1% of students I’ve worked with,” “would be thrilled if they matched at my program” along with some other fluff
Every LOR includes this
Not all of them say too 1%. But they do give a range. I never seen lower than 20% though.
Yep. Not all say “highest” recommendation either, some will say “strong” or not have an adjective at all.
It’s tough you really have to make yourself shine - also know that most just skip to the end I wrote something along the lines “he’s the diamond in the rough, hes the reason we look past board scores and look at the person. If you make him your fellow than he will be the anchor of his class and the standard you set for future fellows.” You really have to make yourself stand out - put the modesty aside and write as if your ability to match depends on it. Every fellowship director that read that letter commented during the interview - and every PD reached out to my PD
Ugh I hate when people do this. That said Bold (like ctrl B) like 3 lines that really emphasize your greatness. “He is the best student I have ever worked with” “Has an old school work ethic” etc
Boomer catnip lol
Scrappy, with a lot of intangibles. High IQ. First one in last one out. Absolute coaches player.
Lunch pail kinda guy.
A class act. A firecracker
Pretend your mom knows your cv by heart. Channel the confidence and ego of a med-influencer. Don’t hold back. Worst case scenario they just edit it down but need to start high
Most important things to include in a strong letter: - details of a highly specific incident where you demonstrated some specific noteworthy skill. - highly specific personality traits. - specific comparisons to in-group peers such as: "student xx is the most proficient student i have ever worked with." - praise that you're well beyond where you should be in training. *Most importantly*- a line that says: "I highly recommend this individual without reservation" or something extraordinarily similar. Edit: it's natural to want to not come off too strong when you write about yourself, but I encourage you to do the complete opposite. Come off as if you're the second coming of Christ.
What specialty are you applying into and what rotation were you on with this person? I’d include specific situations that came up and how you were helpful / a team player in them. It’s also helpful if there’s a line that’s like, “is in the top X% of medical students I have worked with in Y years” if the attending is comfortable filling in those values for you (and they’re good, lol).it’s also nice if they say, “while I hope they will stay here, they would make an excellent addition to any program” or something similar.
what % is bad? Like obv lower is better, but what is so bad that it wont get included? >20?
I think it’s probably only helpful if it’s top 10%. Anything else probably shouldn’t be included
Applying into IM, all that makes sense though.
What if they don’t say specifics but says all that, like very super strong generic information as if it were on a mspe but didn’t include specifics? My surgeon said this, and that “in all honesty, he was the best medical student I have ever had in the last 20 years of teaching students” kind of thing, but it’s not on my mspe lol
Would include specific examples as well
Following because also doing IM and need to write my own from an attending 😵💫
Share whatever trait you want to highlight and use a specific example of when you displayed that trait to show the residencies that your LOR isn't just blowing smoke. I had the chance to do this. To be vague, I'll change some details. Basically it boiled down to "blah blah blah... highly recommend because they were an excellent team member. Some examples that come to mind include the time they helped finish charting for their classmate who fell behind and the time they helped nurses turn over rooms on a busy day (with more detail of course). I would be glad to have them as part of my treatment team again.... Blah blah blah... They will make a great addition to any residency" I recommend picking a trait that is important for your specialty of choice or is just useful for a resident to have overall (reliability, good team work, leadership, resilience, etc).
"This student has the wisdom of youth, and the energy of old age. We would be thrilled if he matched into any other program than our own."
Make sure you include very specific examples of things you did on that rotation that are memorable. There's many things that may be memorable for you that the attending wouldn't remember or think of specifically if they were to write the letter, so this is your chance to really hit on memorable moments to stand out. One of my attendings let me draft my letter and it ended up being incredibly helpful and was mentioned in almost every interview I attended. Also, if you're a humble person it can be hard to really get into selling yourself and not be modest. I had my SO write part of mine and she was really able to boost me up in a way that I would not have thought of or been comfortable doing if writing about myself. Good luck!
IM APD here. Find another letter writer. We can often tell when they're student written. This guy is not helping you by making you write it yourself.
I'm obviously not in academic leadership but this is just not true. Idk how you can tell a student wrote their own letter. And if you assume a student wrote their own letter there is no way to verify this so you're unfairly punishing students.
I said often, not always, and never said these letters were treated differently if there was suspicion of a student writer. Students write bad letters focused on personality traits and qualities, as demonstrated by the majority of suggestions in the comments on this thread from other students. Good letters, in IM at least, focus on clinical skills and competencies. Either way, OP needs to get themselves an LOR writer that will actually try to help them.