Have personal statements become impersonal? An evaluation of personal statements in anesthesiology residency applications

Max, Bryan; Gelfand, Brian J.; Brooks, Meredith; Beckerly, Rena; Segal, Scott

doi:10.1016/j.jclinane.2009.10.007

Cited by 54 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…They thought that reading repeatedly similar subject matter would cause reviewers to view those statements with common themes as less appealing. However, this was not the case since their study showed a strong correlation between the number of common themes in personal statements and an invitation to interview [5].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Other specialties have found an increasing number of personal statements sharing common features. Max et al conducted a study where they evaluated the content of personal statements submitted by anesthesiology residency applicants at a major academic teaching hospital [5]. They found that the personal statement in a typical anesthesiology residency application revolves around one of thirteen common themes [5].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Max et al conducted a study where they evaluated the content of personal statements submitted by anesthesiology residency applicants at a major academic teaching hospital [5]. They found that the personal statement in a typical anesthesiology residency application revolves around one of thirteen common themes [5]. Similarly, in a study examining the personal statements submitted by radiology residency applicants, the statements seemed to consistently mention at least one of eleven defined themes [6].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aforementioned reasons for choosing dermatology of the matched applicants revolved essentially around characteristics specific to the study of dermatology. Interestingly, Max et al also noticed that personal statements written by anesthesiology applicants tend to be focused about 60% of the time on themes that are specific to the study of anesthesiology, such as interest in physiology and pharmacology [5]. While they did not see if this frequency was different between the matched and unmatched applicants, they did report that stating an interest in the relevant physiology and pharmacology was associated with an invitation to interview at their institution.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A critical review of personal statements submitted by dermatology residency applicants

2014

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

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Background. A strong personal statement is deemed favorable in the overall application review process. However, research on the role of personal statements in the application process is lacking. Objective. To determine if personal statements from matched applicants differ from unmatched applicants. Methods. All dermatology residency applications ( = 332) submitted to UC Davis Dermatology in the year of 2012 were evaluated. Two investigators identified the characteristics and recurring themes of content present in the personal statements. Then, both investigators individually evaluated the content of these personal statements in order to determine if any of the defined themes was present. Chi-square, Fisher's exact, and reliability tests were used. Results. The following themes were emphasized more often by the matched applicants than the unmatched applicants as their reasons for going into dermatology are to study the cutaneous manifestations of systemic disease (33.8% versus 22.8%), to contribute to the literature gap (8.3% versus 1.1%), and to study the pathophysiology of skin diseases (8.3% versus 2.2%; ≤ 0.05 for all). Conclusion. The prevalence of certain themes in personal statements of dermatology applicants differs according to match status; nevertheless, whether certain themes impact match outcome needs to be further elucidated.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A critical review of personal statements submitted by dermatology residency applicants

2014

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

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“…Selection committees consider a variety of factors to both select students for interviews and create rank lists, including medical school attended, class rank, clerkship and sub-internship performance, standardized test scores, membership in honor societies, personal statements, and letters of recommendation [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. It is unclear which factors predict residency performance in neurology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting success: What medical student measures predict resident performance in neurology?

Burish

Fredericks

Engstrom

et al. 2015

Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery

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Evaluating Postdoctoral Dental Candidates: Assessing the Need and Recommendations for a National Qualifying Examination

Brodie

Crow

Eber

et al. 2011

Journal of Dental Education

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Increasingly, U.S. dental schools report pass/fail grades and do not rank students. In addition, the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations will report National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) scores as pass/fail after January 1, 2012. This article discusses how these changes will force postdoctoral dental program directors to modify how they assess candidates and how noncognitive evaluations might enhance those assessments. The authors propose developing a national qualifying examination for postdoctoral dental programs that will measure knowledge, decision making, and noncognitive traits including empathy, self-conidence, integrity, and emotional intelligence. Without NBDE scores, class rank, and GPA as a basis for decision making, a single national qualifying examination would assist postdoctoral programs in selecting high-quality candidates based on knowledge, critical thinking skills, and noncognitive traits.

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Have personal statements become impersonal? An evaluation of personal statements in anesthesiology residency applications

Cited by 54 publications

References 5 publications

A critical review of personal statements submitted by dermatology residency applicants

A critical review of personal statements submitted by dermatology residency applicants

Predicting success: What medical student measures predict resident performance in neurology?

Evaluating Postdoctoral Dental Candidates: Assessing the Need and Recommendations for a National Qualifying Examination

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