Open AccessMore Than One-third of Orthopaedic Applicants Are in the Top 10%: The Standardized Letter of Recommendation and Evaluation of Orthopaedic Resident Applicants
Author(s) -
Matthew J. Pacana,
Zachary T. Thier,
J. Benjamin Jackson,
David Koon,
Gregory A. Grabowski
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
clinical orthopaedics and related research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1528-1132
pISSN - 0009-921X
DOI - 10.1097/corr.0000000000001707
Subject(s) - medicine , summative assessment , orthopedic surgery , family medicine , surgery , mathematics education , psychology , formative assessment
The American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) released the standardized letter of recommendation (SLOR) form to provide standardized information to evaluators of orthopaedic residency applicants. The SLOR associates numerical data to an applicant's letter of recommendation. However, it remains unclear whether the new letter form effectively distinguishes among orthopaedic applicants, for whom letters are perceived to suffer from "grade inflation." In addition, it is unknown whether letters from more experienced faculty members differ in important ways from those written by less experienced faculty.