The authors compared selection criteria with subsequent performances of housestaff on a medical service over a 13-year period. The selection criteria studied included class rank, grades in the four major clinical clerkships, scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners Part I examination, Alpha Omega Alpha membership, and numerical ranking by the intern selection committee. Only the last criterion correlated significantly (p = .0015) with subsequent housestaff performance. The synthesis of all available information by an intern selection committee is valuable in choosing candidates with future promise.

No abstract