EP725 - Utility of Personal Statements in the Colorectal Surgery Fellowship Application Process

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Purpose/Background: In recent years, several major specialties, including Obstetrics/Gynecology and Plastic Surgery, have moved to a more streamlined application process, with more specialties to follow. As evidenced by changes to the letter of recommendation forms, the colorectal surgery application has also undergone significant changes. The personal statement (PS) has remained a staple of the application packet, yet the utility of this component has not been assessed previously. The aim of this study was to qualitatively analyze the PS of colorectal surgery applicants to identify common and differentiating themes, to determine the prevalence of those themes, and determine if ratings of distinctiveness/effectiveness differed by themes.

Methods/Interventions: A mixed methods analysis of PS from all applicants to a single colorectal residency for the 2025-2026 academic year were reviewed. The PS were de-identified prior to review. A general surgery resident, a colorectal resident, and a colorectal faculty member performed an inductive thematic analysis on the same PS until saturation was reached (one third of the total). After codebook generation based on the initial analysis, each coder recorded the presence of each theme and related child (sub) code on a subset of PS until all PS were coded. Each PS was scored for uniqueness and effectiveness using a 5-point Likert scale and mean scores reported. PS were considered highly effective or highly interesting if the score was a 4 or 5. Descriptive statistics were performed to determine code prevalence and univariate analysis was performed to determine elements related to high interest, high effectiveness, or both.

Results/Outcomes: A total of 120 PS were analyzed with four overarching themes and 15 child codes identified (Figure 1). The most common codes(80;66.7%) were praise of the diversity/complexity of colorectal diseases and the diversity/innovation of colorectal procedures. Second to those was a description of the resident’s journey through training(76;63.3%). The mean scores for uniqueness and effectiveness were 2.9(SD1.2) and 3.2(SD0.9) respectively, corresponding to neutrality on the scales. Twenty PS(16.7%) were rated both highly interesting and highly effective and were statistically more likely rated this way if they mentioned outside interests(p=0.04). PS were found to be statistically more effective if they mentioned personality traits/core values(p=0.03). On the other hand, PS were statistically less interesting if they mentioned work/life/leadership experience(p=0.003) and less effective if they mentioned their journey through residency(p=0.03). Promises of a resident to a fellowship did not contribute to interest or effectiveness(p=0.07).

Conclusion/Discussion: In this study, we determined that personal statements submitted as part of the colorectal surgery application contain similar themes that are used repetitively. Overall, these repetitive themes did not contribute to effectiveness of the PS. Writing a PS, and for faculty reading a multitude of PS, is a considerable administrative burden, perhaps without much gain. This study may inform potential changes to the colorectal application in the future regarding the personal statement.