"Writing to Acceptance: How Students Learn to Write The Medical School Cover Letter"

About the Author

Chloe Stiggelbout is a junior biology major and marine biology minor at the University of Washington. She plans on applying to medical school in 2014 with the ultimate goal of becoming a pediatrician. Along with her studies, Chloe competes as a long jump and triple jump athlete for the University of Washington track and field team.

Contents

Abstract and Introduction

Methodology

Data

Discussion

Implications and Final Thoughts

Works Cited

Methodology

This paper takes up the topic of how students learn to write in a particular genre by a case study of the medical school cover letter. Several questions have driven this study through its course:

1) How do medical school applicants learn to express themselves in a manner that is appropriate for their profession?

2) What are the elements of the genre of medical school cover letter?

3) How is genre accounted for in terms of the medical school cover letter?

To answer these research questions, surveys were sent to the mailing list of The Student National Medical Association, which asked for responses from current medical students and medical school applicants. The survey then opened up the doors for many different angles from which to approach the research questions.  The first question asked how many attempts it took the student to get accepted into medical school. The results were split into two groups: those who were accepted on their first try, and those who were not. This information was then used when selecting a candidate to interview.

The next two questions asked the participants what changes they made to their cover letter and how they found out which changes would make the difference. This was done in order to look for similarities and differences between the kinds of changes one student made in their letters versus another. And the second part of that question made it possible to assess which strategies were most used while writing successful cover letters. In order to know not only what they are but also how they are recognized, it is important to first be able to define the particular elements within all the letters.

To find these elements, the survey asked the participants to cut and paste a copy of their cover letter in its entirety. After receiving four personal statements, each was read and the common elements were counted. A list of the defining qualities was established and then used to start writing the interview questions, particularly about the applicant’s writing process each step of the way in detail. Were the students consciously choosing to write in a particular style, or did they subconsciously follow the genre “outline” without any intentions of doing so? The last survey question simply asked for the name and email of people who would be willing to participate in one of the interviews. Reviewing all of the results, one person was chosen to interview, a first-year medical student who was rejected on her first try, and then applied again the next year after revising her paper.

First she was asked how many schools she applied to the first time she applied versus the second time she applied. She tried to recall the writing process she went through during the first application process compared to the second application process. Did anything change? How did she decide on a topic? Who revised it for her? After hearing her story, the interviewee was asked what she imagined a good cover letter to be. Ideally, the interviewee’s interpretation of the genre and the interpretation gathered from the text analysis will identify the same defining elements for the genre, but realistically there will be some differences. Knowing the writer’s perspective of how the genre is defined plays a major role in individual learning processes.

There are a few limitations that should be addressed with this study. Firstly, the respondents to my survey are not a random sample. The survey was sent to about 6,000 people; only a select few chose to complete the survey. Meaning, that the sample cannot be used to represent medical school applicants in their entirety. Although this is a conflicting factor, these students still do have a lot in common and there are commonalities that would be rare to just be seen by chance. For instance, it was possible for me to pull similarities out of the four successful cover letters that I read. A successful cover letter can be used to define the genre without question.

Secondly, only a single interview was conducted, with one of the two students who was rejected his or her first time applying. The interviewee’s responses to the questions may have differed significantly when compared to what other students did to learn how to write a successful letter. Her answers to the interview questions may have been subject to opinions and bias. However, the case study on the medical student selected did introduce many themes and support short responses given in the survey.

Also, when the survey was sent out, students were told what the topic of the study was. There could have been a “good participant” bias. They may have responded to the questions with the answers they thought were “correct.” This is common in many studies, but would be difficult for this study since there was no prediction to begin with. With qualitative and quantitative evidence, my research will have evidence that is strong and compelling, and introduces the reader to conversation of learning genre.