What Are We REALLY Looking for in a Letter of Recommendation?

Objectives: The letter of recommendation (LOR) is an important component of a residency application. There is great subjectivity in the interpretation of a letter writer's narrative and many residencies have moved toward standardized LORs (sLOR). We aimed to scrutinize the importance afforded to specific content and applicant attributes in an LOR in hopes of decoding this time-honored process.