Understanding How General Surgery Applicants Use the “Impactful Experiences” Field in Their Residency Applications

Objectives: To ascertain the proportion and characteristics of residency applicants answering the new impactful experience question on Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS); to study the themes explored in these impactful experience statements (IES) and compare the thematic content of these to that of personal statements (PS). Design: Retrospective review of deidentified application materials, with thematic analysis of, and comparison between, IES and PS using a category system developed from materials from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). The theme categories were “personal identity,” “family background,” “financial background,” “community setting,” “educational experiences,” and “other” (e.g., loss of a loved one, medical crisis, or going unmatched). Setting: Single large academic center. Participants: Categorical general surgery applicants. Results: Among the 1237 applications reviewed in this study, only 46.7% of applicants submitted an IES. Applicants with IES were more likely to be underrepresented minorities in medicine (<0.001) and DO or IMG (<0.001). The most common theme categories in IES were other, family background, and financial background. 83.6% of the applicants with IES also discussed IES-themes in their PS, despite advice from the AAMC to avoid repetition. On review of the PS of applicants without IES, experiences appropriate for IES were identified in 57.5% of the PS. Conclusions: Less than half of applicants capitalize on the opportunity provided by the impactful experiences question. Amongst those who did, many duplicated information from their PS. Additional research is needed to understand why many applicants chose not to submit IES despite having relevant experiences to disclose.