Letter of Recommendation Writing for Fellowship

The letter of recommendation for fellowship should be written effectively and clearly. This ensures that the selectors will be convinced with the cohesive story, which proves the applicant’s fitness for the program. In writing the letter of recommendation for residency, make sure to include the strengths of the applicant to increase his chances to be accepted. For more tips, keep reading.

Letter of Recommendation Fellowship Writing Tips

The following are the basic guidelines for writing a letter of recommendation for fellowship

• Do not write the letter unless you are sure that you can write a strong one.
• The 1-page letter is standard.
• Check the ERAS or AAMC letter request form that the applicant will give to you to know about the medical school application-specific requirements, which include whom to address the recommendation, where to send and others.

Content of the letter of recommendation for fellowship program should include

• Personal characteristics: Some of the specific characteristics to mention include interpersonal skills. In here, you need to write about the applicant’s interaction with the staff, patients, and team. Is he is a team player and willing to help others? Is he respectful to members of the clinical team? Regardless, in writing the personality of the applicant, you need to make comments on his integrity, maturity, and dependability. For educational characteristics, write whether he is a self-directed learner, enthusiast, able to reflect or self-critique and able to accept feedback. These things are essential to include in the LoR ERAS fellowship letter of the applicant.
• How well you know the applicant: You need to write what context you worked with the student. Direct clinical contact is great and more essential than just peripheral or evaluative contact. Make sure to mention that you are qualified to comment on the applicant’s abilities, whether you are writing the letter of recommendation for research fellowship or medicine fellowship.
• In the first paragraph of the letter of recommendation for fellowship, you need to write whether or not the applicant has waived his right to read the letter.
• Medical abilities: You need to mention specific clinical skills about the applicant, including his or her medical knowledge, physical and history skills, diagnostic reasoning skills, written and presentation note skills, ability to manage patients as well as an ability to think ahead and broadly. You can use anecdotes in illustrating the point and when appropriate, you can compare the applicant to his peers because it will also be helpful in the application.
• Patient care: Whether the applicant has engaged in clinical management, you need to give a representative example, if possible.
• Systems based practice: Interdisciplinary team interactions, leadership skills as well as management of transitions of care are essential to include in the recommendation letter. You can write about the success of the applicant in building team relationships or examples of efficient transitioning of patients.
• Final impression: It is useful if you close the statement including comparison to his peers. You can also consider adding how the applicant compares provided your past experiences with medical students.

Due dates for the letter of recommendation

All of the recommendation letters should be submitted by the deadline set by the program chosen. However, there are institutions that are more lenient than others are. It is important to contact the program to know if such are accepting late submissions from program applicants.

Keep in mind that all dates displayed in the application Dashboard as well as recommendation system display is in Eastern Time. The time is also same for residency match application.

Requirements for Medical Fellowship Letter of Recommendation

The letter of recommendation becomes an essential reflection of your academic performance, as it serves as an important source of the details about the non-cognitive qualities of the student. Programs may ask the applicant to submit both professional and personal recommendation letters. The LoR is the chance of the applicant to show that he has all those characteristics that set him or her apart from the rest vying for the slot in the program.

Typical LoR requirements

Most of the programs request LoRs. In some cases, they specify from which the letters should come from. You can only submit up to four LoRs to any given program through the ERAS.

Note: Do not send more than the required number of recommendation letters, while it can also be considered in situations like those letters provide a more solid foundation to the application. However, there are programs that only read the first letter and subsequent recommendation letters are ignored.

Be aware of the program-specific requirements: Make sure to follow instructions for every program. There are programs that will require recommendation letters from certain departments, while others require letters from attending. Occasionally, a letter from a person who is not involved in your chosen profession of medicine will be requested. This is the reason that if you are applying for Mount Sinai fellowship, for instance, you need to make sure to check the program site for complete details.

Finally, you can check out for sample letter of recommendation for the medical fellowship to know how referees write the letters. It will give you ideas on what things you need to avoid and consider. In applying for observership application, you should also check the program and specific requirements, alongside the deadlines.

Struggling writing an impressive letter of recommendation for fellowship today? Use this guide for help today!