Underwhelming letter

[Eski]

How much will a brief, unremarkable letter from a well known chair hurt my application? Other two away letters very strong and home chair is very respected and wrote me strong letter.

[Guest]

(11-21-2019, 10:17 PM)Eski Wrote: How much will a brief, unremarkable letter from a well known chair hurt my application? Other two away letters very strong and home chair is very respected and wrote me strong letter.

It deff doesn't help, but it is probably not a dealbreaker if everything else is strong.

[Guest]

(11-21-2019, 11:24 PM)Guest Wrote:

(11-21-2019, 10:17 PM)Eski Wrote: How much will a brief, unremarkable letter from a well known chair hurt my application? Other two away letters very strong and home chair is very respected and wrote me strong letter.

It deff doesn't help, but it is probably not a dealbreaker if everything else is strong.

What didn’t help one applicant this year, is a good letter, but with the wrong applicant’s name on it.

[Guest]

Depends what the other SubIs got.

[Guest]

Length and embellishments in a letter mean nothing. Some of the most prominent faculty write the shortest letters, with all that really matters is the wording they use in the final paragraph (adequate, fine, stellar, superstar, etc). Which really is only known by the people that read their letters year in and year out. I wouldn’t worry about it because there’s no way for you to know what it means.

[Guest]

The reality is that it is going to hurt you significantly. I had two strong home letters, one from a well-respected attending. Additionally, I had an exceptional letter from one of my aways at a popular west coast program. Multiple interviewers on the trail told me it was the strongest letter they could remember from this chairman. Unfortunately, I had a weak letter from another away and was flat out told that despite an otherwise top tier application I would be ranked much lower. Just take it in stride - you can't change anything now. If anyone asks about your time there, just smile and say you enjoyed it.

[Guest]

I lot of big name guys copy and paste your name, step 1 score, and 1 line about what they know about you into a form letter they use for everyone that rotates with them. I've seen the same typo copied across many applicants and can only imagine it's probably been there since I was in diapers. Short lame letters are common and don't matter. What will kill you is if you have 1. the 'bad' buzzword (i.e. the last line says Your Name was an adequate medical student) or they take the time to disclose a problem about you (i.e. despite some minor personality conflicts with the residents...). In those cases huge sirens go off... but really it isn't the letter that kills the applicant and whatever they were talking about becomes pretty obvious in the interview. In summary, there is nothing you can do but work hard and be nice to people. That's the message. Work hard and be nice to people.

[Guest]

Not worth worrying about. Too much variability between writers. Most readers are looking for superlatives in the last sentence. Programs will call or email letter writers if they are considering taking you.

[Focus]

Underwhelming no but a negative letter will put your application in the reject pile.