Names of programs in the LOR

[AjjA]

I'm making a list of all the programs I'm considering, to be sent to my recommender. How should I name the program? Should I just name as its in the admission website section ( Biological and Biomedical Science), or should I name the subdivision of my interest ( Immunology). To whom the recommender should address his/her letter? 

[TakeruK]

I gave my recommenders the name of the school, the department/division that administers the program, and the name of the program itself. I used the name of the official program name, i.e. what my degree would say (in my case, it would say PhD Planetary Science). Usually the official department/division website will list the program's official name (and degree requirements) but you can also check the course catalog (or "Calendar" in Canadian schools) as well.

In your example, based on the information here, I would check the program requirements. I think Immunology and Genetics are two example subfields of Biological and Biomedical Science, right? If your school offers distinct PhD programs in Immunology and Genetics separately, then I would be sure to indicate this difference. One thing you can check for is the degree requirements for someone in Immunology vs Genetics. If they are different (i.e. different required courses etc.) then I would differentiate them. 

In my example, I am part of an earth science department, and my program is Planetary Science. Although other programs in my department (e.g. Geochemistry) follows similar degree structures (we have the same timeline and procedures for our qualifying, candidacy and thesis defense exams), our course requirements (both content and number of courses) are different. So I made sure to specify to my recommenders that I am applying to the Planetary Science program. 

I wouldn't worry about telling the recommender what to use though. I simply provided all the necessary information and you can trust that your letter writer knows what to do with it and how to properly address the letter etc. according to the norms of your field.

Note: Even though a single department might administer several degree programs, admissions committees may be composed of people across multiple programs. At my current program, my earth science department administers 6 different PhD programs but the cohort of students are considered together as a whole by a committee composed of professors in all 6 PhD programs. (There are also no quotas on each PhD program either, so cohorts for a particular program can vary between 0 and 8 new students but the long term average works out).

[AjjA]

Even if it's the same application. Most of these programs have one online application. 

[AjjA]

For example I'm interested in the Molecular Medicine track at the biological and biomedical science program at Yale : (http://medicine.yale.edu/bbs/about/how.aspx )

How should my recommender address the letter? 

Dear Molecular Medicine Program director? 

[TakeruK]

I'm not sure why you need to worry about how your recommender will write the address, it's up to them. I also really do not think the address matters at all.

[eeee1923]

Most programs have online recommendation forms at this point. Basically you'll provide your recommenders email address on your application and they will be sent a link to fill out the information. Other than letting your recommenders know the names of the programs you're applying to (and maybe any other bits of info such as a CV and motivations paragraph) it should be a pretty straight forward process. 

[fuzzylogician]

It's not really up to you, but it also doesn't really matter much. Dear admissions committee or dear program director would work. 

[TakeruK]

Even if it's the same application. Most of these programs have one online application. 

I missed this earlier---yes, I would say that it's useful to specify which program you are applying to even if all the programs within a department uses the same application. And even if the entire department reviews all applications of all of its programs together. It's helpful for the admissions committee to know which area of the department you are interested in and would fit in.

But this doesn't change how the letter is addressed though. The program name is useful for the letter writer to say something like "I am writing in support of AjjA's application to your Molecular Medicine PhD program" etc. and you can refer to it by name in your SOP too. Also helpful for your letter writer to know which program you are interested in so that they can focus your letter towards that.

[Infinito]

I'm pretty sure my LOR writers will do a generic greeting. There's no way programs will hold this against you; you can't control your writers so much.