LOR "Etiquette"

[clement]

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Hi,
I have three letters, one from a neuro chair and the rest from psych. Initially I was interested in psych but now I would like to apply to both. my psych letters are "general residency" directed but do you think i will give neuro programs the impression I'm applying to both? (not sure if that would be a disadvantage)...In sept i will do a neuro away rotation and hopefully get another neuro letter, but should i just use what i have to apply for sept 1 for now?

as another added point, i'm interested in behavioral neuro...so my focus is behavioral neuro or neuropsych (for the psych side of things).

not exactly sure how this works as far as dean's letters either...should the dean not mention my specialty choices in his letter? i asked, but he hasn't responded as to how he approaches this. obviously it'd be nice if he tailored it, but bad if i don't sound dedicated to one field...

dang it, why can't the two just merge NOW?!

PS: not interested in combined...

 

[95439]

Ideally, you need to pick one of the two before you apply. Interviewing will be umm 'interesting' if you're applying to two specialties (you'll have to go on twice as many interviews, and there will be alot of questions about your dedication to either field if you can't figure out which one you want to go with).
If you can do this, try and get the dean to write you a letter specifically for your specialty. The same goes for your LOR's. The more specifically geared toward your specialty the better. It's always good to have an LOR that says something along the lines of "We loved student x for our specialty, but they have chosen to go with neurology and he/she will make an outstanding addition to the field".

My recommendation to you would be to decide on one. NOW. Seriously. Choose one right now, go with it for a bit in your mind, and if you feel comfortable with it, that's probably the right field. If you don't feel right thinking "I'm going to be a Psychiatrist (or Neurologist)" in your head for a bit, then you know you made the wrong choice. But at some point you will need to pick ONE if you don't want to do both. So better to do it now than later when it's already impacted your application.