Guest MacDude Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 Question... I just finished an elective in Dalhousie and upon leaving, I asked the program director for a Letter of Reference and she said No problem.....then as I was leaving, she mentioned that "i'll see you during carms interview time".... I took that as a positive comment...however, after talking to some people...they said that that is a pretty common phenomenon, and to not take it personally... that is, PD's always complement elective students so that they can choose among the best of the best.....so even if your a bad student, they'll still say "see you during carms" ? I dunno if this is true or not but itd be great if someone could shed some light on this... Now I'm worried 'cause what if the Letter of Reference she's gonna write isn't a stellar one, even though she stated i did well on the elective.... Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest walton1 Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Don't students do essentially the same thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endingsoon Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Most people won't tell you straight up that you are a poor student unfortuntely...I guess its hard to refuse to write a reference letter for anyone! We had evals that had to be completed during electives so I used a general approach to getting my letters. If they offered, then of course I took it. If my eval was all/most excellents (highest rating) then I would poliety ask for one if they had not offered. If I got anything less than that, then I would not ask for a letter. That was probably a conservative approach, but I wanted to play it safe, and I already had more than enough letters so I could pick and choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mgupta Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 i think that if you asked the PD : 'will u write me a strong reference letter', and they said 'yes', you're fine. i would think that a PD recognizes the kind of pitfalls you are talking about and would not want to mislead a student who is seeking to apply to their program (by telling them they're good when they're not). evaluation is taken very seriously by this profession. while i agree the PD could just have been nice and said : 'see u at carms', i disagree that they will write you a bad reference. so if you are worried about the quality of your letter, i wouldnt worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Yeah, if you start second guessing the people who said they'd write you a good reference letter, you are going to drive yourself nuts. If you refuse letters from the docs who say are going to write you a good letter, what are you going to do? Use reference letters from people who say they'll write you a bad letter and hope they're lying too? I have heard exactly ONE story of a surgeon at UWO who has written bad letters for students in the past after promising to write a good letter. I think the fact I heard about it as a big deal means it's a pretty rare occurrence. I have heard of people getting evasive answers when asking docs if "they were willing to write a GOOD reference letter." In that case, don't use the letter! Don't let CaRMS drive you crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jmh2005 Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 There were several people in my class who wanted this certain speciality at McMaster...did electives with the PD (thinking this was such a great idea, this person gets to know you, you show your dedication, face time, etc...), all were given great reviews in their evals...they all felt really positive...this program always had a tonne of Mac grads in it... Then CaRMS comes around...they interview with the program, again, totally positive experience...(not sure if this PD wrote them letters, however...) Then Match Day comes along and only 1 of these people matches to this program...there were several DEVASTATED people who are now relocating across the country, yet all along had felt as though they were very competitive, had a great shot of getting what they wanted... Apparently, PDs will sometimes remove themselves from the final selection and ranking, especially if they have done work with many of the candidates, leaving a 'team' of others to sort through letters, transcripts, interviews, etc...and do the final ranking...not sure if this is what happened in this case... SO...the reason I write this is to warn you that just because you do an elective with a PD and even get a letter from them...don't ever count on anything when you are applying to a competitive speciality (none of this is really applicable to Family Medicine, but specialities mainly)... Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sarah371 Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 I think the rule of thumb with program directors encouraging you to apply is....Believe nothing that is said until you open your match page on match day. Every program director wants to have a large group to choose from....therefore the more applicants the better the choice. That being said I would apply if the suggest you do. Letters are a different story. I know of only one or two people who would write bad letters. Most people say that they are unable to do it. So if someone says they can write you a positive letter I would believe them. SARAH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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