Dermatology Residency Applications: Correlation of Applicant Personal Statement Content With Match Result
The personal statement is a narrative written by an applicant to residency programs to discuss his/her interests and express his/her personality, but it is unclear how the personal statement impacts the dermatology residency application process. The aim of this study was to analyze personal statements from applicants to a dermatology program at a major academic institution to identify common themes and determine if certain themes were associated with successful matching. All personal statements submitted to the dermatology residency program at UNC School of Medicine (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) during the 2012 application cycle (N=422) were analyzed to identify 9 common themes of content. Certain themes differed in prevalence between matched and unmatched applicants. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the impact of personal statement themes and other application content on the residency selection process.
Practice Points
- The most common themes discussed in applicant personal statements include personal accomplishments/attributes and positive qualities of dermatology.
- Presentation of dermatologic cases was more prevalent in personal statements of matched applicants.
- Name-dropping was more common among unmatched applicants.
Results
All 422 submitted personal statements were evaluated, with 308 personal statements from applicants who matched and 114 personal statements from unmatched applicants. The screening of the initial subset of 20 personal statements resulted in a total of 9 content themes. The prevalence of each theme among matched and unmatched applicants is shown in the Table.
The most common themes among both matched and unmatched groups were personal accomplishments or attributes and positive qualities of dermatology. The prevalence of certain themes varied between matched and unmatched groups. Dermatologic cases were discussed significantly more frequently in the matched group compared to the unmatched group (60.06% vs 46.49%, P=.013). Name-dropping was more prevalent in the unmatched group (37.72%) compared to the matched group (26.95%). This difference in prevalence reached statistical significance (P=.014). Religious influences also were discussed more frequently in the unmatched group (5.26%) vs the matched group (0.65%) with statistical significance (P=.002).
,Comment
This study of 422 personal statements submitted to a major academic institution showed that certain themes were common in personal statements among both matched and unmatched applicants. These themes included personal accomplishments/attributes and positive qualities of dermatology. This finding is consistent with prior studies that show common themes in the personal statements of applicants across a wide variety of specialties, including dermatology, anesthesiology, pediatrics, general surgery, internal medicine, and radiology.5-10 Most commonly, applicants feel the need to justify why they chose their particular specialty, with Olazagasti et al5 (N=332) reporting that 70% of submitted dermatology personal statements explained why the applicant chose dermatology.
Certain themes, however, varied in prevalence between matched and unmatched groups in our study. Discussion of dermatologic cases was significantly more prevalent in the matched group compared to the unmatched group (P=.013), possibly because dermatology faculty enjoy hearing about cases and how the applicant responds and interacts with the cases. These data suggest that matched applicants focus more on characteristics specific to the clinical aspects of dermatology.
Conversely, name-dropping was significantly more prevalent in the unmatched group (P=.014). Dermatology is a highly competitive specialty. In 2016, applicants who matched into dermatology had a mean USMLE Step 1 score of 249 with a mean number of 4.7 research experiences and 11.7 abstracts, presentations, or publications, which is higher than the average USMLE Step 1 score of 239 with a mean number of 3.8 research experiences and 8.7 abstracts, presentations, or publications for unmatched applicants.3 It is possible that residency selection committees may view name-dropping negatively if applicants choose to name-drop to strengthen their applications in comparison to more competitive candidates. Religious influences also were significantly more prevalent in the unmatched group (P=.002), but the overall frequency of religious influences was low (approximately 2% of all applicants).
