LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION: General Information: We strongly suggest that you carefully consider whom you ask to write your letters of recommendation for residency applications. Your field-specific advisor and/or one of the Student Affairs Deans can assist you in selecting your letter writers. Most programs ask for three or four letters of recommendation, and there is a limit of four letters of recommendation in the ERAS scanning format per program. However, you are able to send different combinations of letters to different programs. For example, you may send four letters of recommendation from Radiology faculty to Radiology programs, and a different set of four letters from Pediatrics faculty to Pediatrics programs, if you are interested in applying to both residencies. Please note, the Dean’s Letter is not considered a letter of recommendation. Consider these factors when coming up with a list of potential letter writers: • • • Letters should be written by faculty or attendings, not by residents or fellows. In general, one letter should be from someone working in the field(s) to which you are applying, one letter from the appropriate third year clerkship director, and one letter from your subinternship. Some residency specialties may prefer all letters of recommendation to be from faculty in that specialty. The letter writers should be preceptors who know you and know your work, and who tell you they are willing to write strong letters on your behalf. It is appropriate to ask in person: “are you comfortable writing a strong letter of recommendation for me.” This gives the other person an opportunity to tell you either that they would be happy to write you a strong letter, or tell you something like “they may not know your work well enough to be able to write you a strong letter”, and then you can ask someone else. If there is any hesitation, you may wish to select another faculty member to write a letter for you. You may want to give your letter writers a copy of your Biosketch, your CV, or copies of your clinical evaluations. If they wish to see your transcript, you must request the Office of the Registrar to send them a copy directly. Plan to give your letter-writers very early notice for a letter. Please remember that some faculty and attendings will be asked by 30-50 people to write a letter of recommendation, and you must allow them enough time to meet your deadlines. Please do not ask someone if you are not sure you will use their letter. If you have a choice between faculty who are more senior (associate or full professor), and they know you well, their letter will often carry more weight than a letter from a more junior faculty member.
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After you have selected your letter writers: If you are applying to ERAS Programs: You will print out an ERAS Cover Letter for your letter writers. The cover letter contains directions to the letter-writers for the ERAS format. You must sign the cover letter and check off whether or not you waive your right to review the Letter of Recommendation. Please note that a confidential letter (the right to review the letter is waived) is considered much more seriously by residency programs. When you enter your letterwriters’ names in the ERAS program, a link will appear that says “print”, and you can print out the cover letter with the letter writer’s name, your name, and your AAMC ID #. Your letter writers should include in the letter of recommendation itself your AAMC ID #, and whether or not you have waived your right to review the letter. • You will enter your letter writer selections and assign which letters go to which of your residency programs. Once you have completed the entire ERAS application, and you have certified and transmitted your application, we will be able to scan in your letters of recommendation.
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Your letter writer will mail or hand carry the completed cover letter and letter of recommendation directly to the Office of Student Affairs, and one of the OSA staff will scan the letter into your ERAS profile on our ERAS workstation. In our experience, residency programs will review the letters as they become available. We do not accept electronic Letters of Recommendation, for security reasons. We strongly recommend against faxed Letters: faxing shrinks and breaks up the print, and we have been told by BUSM residency directors that those letters can be difficult to read. If your letter writer is trying to meet a deadline, or is sending the letter very late in the application process, they should fax the letter. Address to return Letters of Recommendation: Office of Student Affairs Boston University School of Medicine Attn: Letters of Recommendation Room A-209A 72 East Concord Street, A-2 Boston, MA 02118 Please give your letter writers a specific deadline to return the letters to the OSA. If your residency program does not have a deadline prior to November 1, 2010, we recommend you give your letter writers a deadline of October 15, 2010. Most residency programs download ERAS application information on a daily basis after September 1, so the sooner your letters are here, the sooner we can scan them in. You need to check all your residency programs for deadlines – some may have deadlines as early as October 1 or September 15, 2009. You can check for any program deadlines at the AMA FREIDA On-Line website: https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/user/viewProgramSearch.do If you realize that one of your letter-writers seems to have trouble meeting your deadline, you might want to consider asking another faculty or attending to write a letter for you, and reassigning the new letter to your residency programs.
If you are applying to Non-ERAS Programs: • • • • San Francisco Matching Program (SFMP): Most programs ask for three letters of recommendation. The SFMP will ask you to have your letter writers given you their letters in sealed envelopes, to return to the SFMP along with your SFMP application. Air Force: we do not know at this time if the Air Force will be using the ERAS application program, or their own application. If they are using their own application, please follow their instructions for letters of recommendation. NRMP Programs not using ERAS: there are a few NRMP residency programs that do not use the ERAS application program, please follow their instructions for having your letters writers send their letters directly to these programs. The Office for Student Affairs cannot mail out letters of recommendation on your behalf. Letters of recommendation can only be mailed by the author of the letter. This is a legal requirement.
Final Notes: • • Letters of Recommendation written on your behalf to residency programs will not be quoted in the Dean’s Letter of Evaluation – duplication of favorable comments comes across to the reader as “filler.” If you have waived your right to see your Letter of Recommendation, you will not be able to see it at any time.
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If you have not waived your right to see your Letter of Recommendation, you will not be able to review it in the Office of Student Affairs or request a copy from the OSA – you must request this of the letter writer. Letters sent to the Office of Student Affairs for ERAS transmission are destroyed after the Match, in accordance with NRMP and U.S. Postal regulations.