“Writing to Acceptance: How Students Learn to Write The Medical School Cover Letter”
by Chloe Stiggelbout | Xchanges 8.2
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:
- How do medical school applicants learn to express themselves in a manner that is appropriate for their profession?
- What are the elements of the genre of the medical school cover letter?
- 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 opened up 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 — in order to look for similarities and differences between the kinds of changes one student made versus another. The survey also 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.
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. She was asked how many schools she applied to the first time she applied versus the second time, and to recall the writing process she went through during each application cycle.
There are a few limitations that should be addressed. Firstly, the respondents to the survey are not a random sample — the survey was sent to about 6,000 people, and only a select few chose to complete it. Secondly, only a single interview was conducted, so the interviewee’s responses may have differed significantly from other students. Also, when the survey was sent out, students were told what the topic of the study was, which could have introduced a “good participant” bias.