Letters of recommendation have been identified as one of the most important factors in ranking applicants for fellowship training. With 90% of orthopaedic surgery graduates pursuing fellowship training after residency, the quality of letters of recommendation plays a critical role in determining the likelihood of an applicant matching into their desired program. There have been no previous investigations into what specific quality/performance metrics orthopaedic residency faculty use to deem applicants as ‘unqualified’ for fellowship training and how this affects these applicants’ letters of recommendation.
The purpose of this study is to:
1.) Identify and rank quality/performance metrics that may deem an applicant ‘unqualified’ for fellowship training.
2.) Gauge how these quality/performance metrics would affect orthopaedic faculty’s willingness to write an applicant a letter of recommendation.
3.) Evaluate how orthopaedic faculty would respond to requests for letters of recommendation from applicants who are deemed ‘unqualified’ for orthopaedic fellowship training.
Audience: OTA Active members.