another LOR question

[kash_MD]

My first post y'all... I am a dual citizen USA/Lebanese and I am attending Medical School in Lebanon. Obviously I plan on going on 2 - 3 rotations in the US, and from reading the forums I realize residency programs are pretty much only interested in LOR's from US docs. However, we have a couple of american residency graduates teaching at my medical school. Do LOR's from them hold any water?

your input is appreciated

[devildoc8404]

Excellent question, thanks for asking it! We have some Bulgarian profs who work at US medical schools and universities part of each year. Do their comments hold any water as far as LORs are concerned?

[RussianJoo]

the only LORs you want are the ones that can comment on your clinical skills and evaluate you in a clinical setting. no one cares that a basic science prof thinks you're a great medical student because you got an A in his class. So your LORs should come from Attending physicians not profs.

[kash_MD]

ohh sorry for not being clear,,, they are attending physicians, they bring them in for a special lecture here or there... for example we had an hem/onc (american board) give us a lecture about hemoglobinopathies.... but in the future i will be running into these docs with american experience because they will be our attendings in our 3rd and 4th year clinicals, and they will be able to comment on our clinical skills...

And the only reason I ask is because we are only allowed to do up to 3 months of visiting rotations our 4th year and i thought it might be a way to get some good LOR's before I head to the states for visiting rotations!

so again does a CLINICAL reccomendation from an american board certified doctor outside of the united states hold any water?

[devildoc8404]

My bad... I was using "profs" as a catch-all phrase. Some of them are clinicians, some are basic scientists, and some are researchers.

I will stick with the clinicians in that regard, thanks RJ!

[RussianJoo]

don't know how well these people will know you in the week or so that they come to your school to give a lecture. or what kind of interaction you'll have with them. once again if you just sat there and listened to their lecture then that's not going to be a great LOR. if they have seen you work in a hospital and can comment on your clinical training, bed side manor and other things than i think their letters will mostly help if you're applying to their residency program or the hospital where they primarily work. but i think that LORs from those who train US docs would be better because they can comment on your clinical skill compared to US counterparts. Also if they're in the specialty you want to apply to those letters will be better than if they're just some random attending. If they're world famous or at least famous in the US and can write a personally LOR than it won't matter where they met you in the US or the Moon.

[mtm2010]

hello

r u guys saying that lors from foreign physicians who supervised in clinical rotations outside the US are useless? i studied in india, have 3 lors from indian physicians, and 1 lor from a US physician

[RussianJoo]

they're not 100% useless but definitely don't carry as much weight as LORs from US physicians who can compare your performance to other US medical students.