Residency program requirements vary, but you will usually need two or three faculty recommendation letters, one of which must be from the discipline in which you are applying. In most cases, you will be requesting faculty letters based on performance in the clinical clerkships or major electives, and thus this contact is made shortly after the course ends and the evaluation has been completed. A follow-up to confirm the request for a recommendation may be done later through a letter to the faculty member. At the time of request, you should also indicate to the letter writer that you are waiving your rights to see the letter and that will need to keep a draft of the letter in his/her office until you are ready to use it for your residency application credentials (July/August of your fourth year).
Some residency programs require a recommendation letter from the chair of the department of your career interest. The department letter usually includes a summary of your performance in coursework within that department and an overall assessment of how strong a candidate you are for a training program in that specialty. Most departments have established a mechanism to handle these requests even though you may not know the chair. The chair's letter is an important communication to the residency director. We encourage you to make an appointment to discuss your record and career plans with the department chair or his/her designee for writing these letters. This letter usually counts as one of the three letters noted above.
In general, you should only provide the number of letters and credentials requested by the residency programs/directors. This means that you will need to be selective in which faculty members you request to write letters. Unless there is significantly new or unique information to be provided through an additional faculty letter, there is no need to send two or three additional letters beyond what is requested. Some program directors have indicated in their instructions that they will look at the first three letters submitted and discard others.
When you begin working on your applications, contact your letter writer and ask them to make any updates, including adding a current date. Check with the programs to which you are applying to confirm their application deadlines so you can give your letter writer a date by which to have your letter completed/sent.
- ERAS: Letters are requested by you and submitted by the letter writer to the Student Affairs Office. ERAS opens on July 1, and after that date, you will be able to print a "Letter of Recommendation" Cover Sheet which you should provide to your letter writer for submitting the letter directly to Trudy Furberry. Trudy will in turn scan it into ERAS (after your ERAS application has been "certified" by you) and it will be transmitted to the programs to which you are applying. Full details on this process will be provided by Trudy through emails in early summer of your fourth year.
- CAS (San Francisco Match): Letters are requested by you and submitted as instructed by CAS.
- Non-ERAS: Letters are requested by you and are submitted as instructed by the program. Generally, the faculty sends their letter directly to the program based on an address list you provide.
Questions regarding letters of recommendation should be directed to the Student Affairs Office at (206) 543-5561.