MSPE Comments: Do they matter? What separates a good from great one?

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

Very happy with my comments so far with almost all HP and H, but they also all kind of say the same thing. I'm aware the letter grade matters most of all, but do comments matter, especially when they read a little "cookie cutter"?

My positive comments all are along the same lines for every rotation. "PathNeuro showed great patient skills .... jumped in to help ... eagerly learned how to .... showed professionalism .... desire to learn....thorough history taking .... thoughtful plans of care..... great team player...."

My constructive comments are also kind of the same "Keep learning. Keep reading up. Continue to maintain your dedication. Continue to study." This is literally copy-pasted from three of my evals.

I ask because my dean has REALLY hammered on the importance of MSPE comments, but I've learned he can be wrong, sometimes dangerously so. I'm just curious if anyone actually is reading this or cares if there are no red flags.

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[Dr. Anonymouss]

Very happy with my comments so far with almost all HP and H, but they also all kind of say the same thing. I'm aware the letter grade matters most of all, but do comments matter, especially when they read a little "cookie cutter"?

My positive comments all are along the same lines for every rotation. "PathNeuro showed great patient skills .... jumped in to help ... eagerly learned how to .... showed professionalism .... desire to learn....thorough history taking .... thoughtful plans of care..... great team player...."

My constructive comments are also kind of the same "Keep learning. Keep reading up. Continue to maintain your dedication. Continue to study." This is literally copy-pasted from three of my evals.

I ask because my dean has REALLY hammered on the importance of MSPE comments, but I've learned he can be wrong, sometimes dangerously so. I'm just curious if anyone actually is reading this or cares if there are no red flags.

They can only write so many unique things about med students, so yeah the majority are just cookie cutter statements. As long as they aren’t negative then they are positive.

 

[ChordaEpiphany]

They can only write so many unique things about med students, so yeah the majority are just cookie cutter statements. As long as they aren’t negative then they are positive.

At a certain point do we not recognize that maybe 3rd year clerkships are a learning opportunity and not a stratifying opportunity? The reason the MSPE comments look the same for everyone is that everyone looks and performs essentially the same. Minus serious professionalism issues, no one sees enough of med students to get an idea of how they are, and even if they do, they're really just getting an idea of how confident they look on the first few days on the job. I wonder if the attendings who value these evals would also say they knew who the best residents were going to be on day 2 of internship.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

At a certain point do we not recognize that maybe 3rd year clerkships are a learning opportunity and not a stratifying opportunity? The reason the MSPE comments look the same for everyone is that everyone looks and performs essentially the same. Minus serious professionalism issues, no one sees enough of med students to get an idea of how they are, and even if they do, they're really just getting an idea of how confident they look on the first few days on the job. I wonder if the attendings who value these evals would also say they knew who the best residents were going to be on day 2 of internship.

I agree. I think the only time 3rd year evals hurt you are if they are negative, otherwise I think they carry little significance. Looking for ways to stratify yourself is just a he nature of medical school unfortunately. It’s a hyper competitive landscape amongst extremely smart and dedicated people.

 

[ChordaEpiphany]

I agree. I think the only time 3rd year evals hurt you are if they are negative, otherwise I think they carry little significance. Looking for ways to stratify yourself is just a he nature of medical school unfortunately. It’s a hyper competitive landscape amongst extremely smart and dedicated people.

I understand the need to evaluate something other than standardized tests. I understand the SP exams are also pretty flawed. However, at my school it's as if they actively hate any sort of objective evaluation. Clinical evals are 70% of the grade, shelf is 20-25%, and the rest is an SP/clinical skills exam. Your entire performance in medical school basically boils down to the subconscious bias of the people who evaluate you, your luck getting good evaluators, and how well you play the game of guessing who to send evals to.

Realistically, I don't see how this sort of evaluation system holds up longterm. It's a hypercompetitive environment with highly competent people. You're not going to stratify them with such a poorly controlled metric.

 

[aldol16]

No one really reads them. Your letters of rec are more important as are the actual clerkship grades.

 

[toetalent]

Very happy with my comments so far with almost all HP and H, but they also all kind of say the same thing. I'm aware the letter grade matters most of all, but do comments matter, especially when they read a little "cookie cutter"?

My positive comments all are along the same lines for every rotation. "PathNeuro showed great patient skills .... jumped in to help ... eagerly learned how to .... showed professionalism .... desire to learn....thorough history taking .... thoughtful plans of care..... great team player...."

My constructive comments are also kind of the same "Keep learning. Keep reading up. Continue to maintain your dedication. Continue to study." This is literally copy-pasted from three of my evals.

snake io​

I ask because my dean has REALLY hammered on the importance of MSPE comments, but I've learned he can be wrong, sometimes dangerously so. I'm just curious if anyone actually is reading this or cares if there are no red flags.

I agree with you. Trust and recognize research achievements. This process is really time consuming and takes a long time.

 

[operaman]

You’re fine. I doubt anyone has ever been offered an interview based on an MSPE comment because as you’ve noted, they’re all about the same. Comments get read but usually just looking for red flags. The actual LORs tend to give more specifics though even those often seem cookie cutter.

Most of the residency application game is making sure not to close any doors. Sounds like all doors are still open which means you’ve done all you can do far.

 

[anxious_premed44]

I understand the need to evaluate something other than standardized tests. I understand the SP exams are also pretty flawed. However, at my school it's as if they actively hate any sort of objective evaluation. Clinical evals are 70% of the grade, shelf is 20-25%, and the rest is an SP/clinical skills exam. Your entire performance in medical school basically boils down to the subconscious bias of the people who evaluate you, your luck getting good evaluators, and how well you play the game of guessing who to send evals to.

Realistically, I don't see how this sort of evaluation system holds up longterm. It's a hypercompetitive environment with highly competent people. You're not going to stratify them with such a poorly controlled metric.

Yeah, evals are super sus and I don’t think they should count for more than 1/3 of a grade assigned for any given clerkship.