Choosing Your Referees
Selecting Referees
Choosing the people
who will be writing your reference letters is a very important step. This step will start early in your medical
school years. You need to maximize your opportunities to spend time with preceptors so that when the time comes to
request a reference letter, you will have people who could say something valid
about your skills and attributes. Taking advantage of all opportunities that fall your way as well as
seeking out experiences in early exposure will increase your likelihood of
being able to identify a good referee.
The Ideal Reference Letter
The ideal reference
letter is from a person who is known to the program directors for the programs
for which you are applying. In Canada, there are only 16 medical schools and this is a real advantage for you.
The academic community in each specialty
area is small enough that it is quite likely that they will know the referee
you have chosen to write the reference letter if they come from an academic
setting. A referee from an academic setting who would be able to confidently say they would want you as a resident
in their own program is an ideal one!
Key to Choosing a Referee
Other clinical
faculty can provide excellent references, the key to choosing them is to be
sure you have spent enough time being observed by them and be sure you did good
quality clinical work while under their observation. The programs which you are applying will specify whether or not the referee needs to be in
the specialty to which you are applying, but many programs do take reference
letters from outside the specialty, and some will take resident referee
letters. Be sure to check before you ask!
Who NOT to Choose
Basic science,
research only and non-medical letters are not helpful unless the program you are
applying involves strong elements of these areas.
The main concern of a residency director is that you have the
necessary talents to be a resident that can successfully complete the residency
programs.Your abilities outside the area of the work you will be doing in the residency are not as important to
them as your skills in your work with patients.
Communication with your Mentors
When you start a
rotation, if you are interested in that program, tell your mentors. More experience will fall your way and you
will be remembered in a way that would make the staff person able to write a
reference for you (assuming you have done good work). Make an appointment with the mentor and at that time, make a
formal request for a reference letter. Ask the referee if they feel they would be in a position to write a good
reference letter for you. Most will be honest with you, if they don’t feel they have observed you enough to write a
letter, then they will tell you. As a writer of these letters it is much better to tell the student that you would
not make a good referee for whatever reason than to say yes and write a
lukewarm letter that is easily recognized as such by the residency program
director.
Impress Your Referees
Make it easy for your referees.They will be impressed
with someone who arrives with a mailing list of all programs the letters are
to be sent. Pre-addressed, stamped envelopes are your best bet. A nice
trick is to include a stamped self-addressed postcard that can be sent at the
time the letters are sent. Once you know
that your reference letters will have arrived at their destination. Please always allow your referees sufficient
time to complete the task. References can be requested prior to when they are needed, if you have just completed a
block of work with someone you would like as a referee, that is a good time to
ask, as their experience with you will be fresh. If you do this,
provide them with an outline for writing the letter. This can be obtained from the
CaRMS web site.
Confidentiality
One of the recommendations of CaRMS is that
a reference letter not be seen by the student, since this is
regarded as being more valid than one the student will see. The idea is that able to be truthful about the
candidate when the student will not see the letter. You do take a risk that the letter may not be what you want it to
be; to avoid this you need to choose your referee carefully and ask them if they feel they can
write a good reference for you.
Start Early!
To close, take
advantage of all opportunities that come your way and create your own, to give
yourself the best chance at finding the right referee for you. Start early, don’t leave it until your
fourth year, with your CaRMS application in your hand.
Reference
Iserson,
K.V., GETTING INTO A RESIDENCY – A Guide for Medical Students, 4th
ed.
This book is available on reserve in the library under Med III/IV
