Table 1.
Characteristics of LORs and letter writer by applicant gender
| Female applicants | Male applicants | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applicant characteristics | |||
| Total number of applicants; N (%) | 60 (48%) | 65 (52%) | |
| Letters per applicant; N (%) | 0.49 | ||
| Three | 8 (13.3) | 6 (9.2) | |
| Four | 52 (86.7) | 58 (89.2) | |
| Five | 0 (0) | 1 (1.5) | |
| Applicants per application cycle; N (%) | 0.56 | ||
| 2015/2016 | 10 (16.7) | 17 (26.2) | |
| 2016/2017 | 19 (31.7) | 16 (24.6) | |
| 2017/2018 | 14 (23.3) | 16 (24.6) | |
| 2018/2019 | 17 (28.3) | 16 (24.6) | |
| PhD Degree; N (%) | 12 (20.0) | 20 (30.8) | 0.17 |
| Underrepresented in Medicine1; N (%) | 0.24 | ||
| Yes | 5 (8.3) | 9 (13.8) | |
| No | 47 (78.3) | 42(64.6) | |
| Unknown/did not disclose | 8 (13.3) | 14 (21.5) | |
| Letter characteristics | |||
| Total number of letters; N (%) | 232 | 255 | |
| Gender of each letter’s writer*; N (%) | <.01 | ||
| Female | 79 (34.1) | 58 (22.7) | |
| Male | 153 (65.9) | 197 (77.3) | |
| Professional field of letter writer; N (%) | 0.93 | ||
| Radiation oncology | 180 (77.6) | 197 (77.3) | |
| Other | 52 (22.4) | 58 (22.7) | |
| Academic rank of letter writer; N (%) | 0.08 | ||
| Assistant professor | 58 (25.0) | 49 (19.2) | |
| Associate professor | 53 (22.8) | 70 (27.5) | |
| Professor | 104 (44.8) | 127 (49.8) | |
| Unknown | 17 (7.3) | 9 (3.5) | |
| Institutional affiliation of letter writer; N (%) | 0.15 | ||
| Home program | 141 (60.8) | 171 (67.1) | |
| Away program | 91 (39.2) | 84 (32.9) | |
1Self identified as Black/African American and/or Hispanic/Latino within ERAS
*In cases of dual or departmental authorship, the gender of the first listed author was used