Description of the interview process in selecting students for admission to U.S. medical schools

Abstract

A questionnaire on the interview process used in selecting first-year medical students was sent to all 123 U.S. medical schools. The questionnaire included items on the role of the interview in selection. the nature of the interview process, and how the interview was administered. The results revealed that 106 of the 107 responding schools used an interview in selecting students. Among four selection factors, the interview ranked second in importance to gradepoint average; references and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores were of lesser importance. Only 8 percent of the institutions used a selection index for admission processing that assigned the interview a specific percentage weight. The interviews generally used a one-to-one format, and most applicants had at least two separate interviews. All of the schools used faculty and staff members as interviewers, and 72 percent of the schools used students also. Eighty percent of the schools made certain that each interviewee was interviewed by at least one member of the admissions committee, and all interviewers were admissions committee members at more than half of the schools. Items on interview organization revealed that most of the schools trained or briefed their interviewers and required a written interview report for the applicant's file. About three-fourths of the schools held interviews only on their campus. About one-third of the schools did follow-up studies on the effectiveness of interviews in predicting success. Most schools had a geographical preference area for applicants, and on the average the schools interviewed 69 percent of the applicants from their m a . (8 ref)-

A predictive validity study of medical judgment vignettes to assess students’ noncognitive attributes: A 3-year prospective longitudinal study

“…The primary goal is to identify candidates with desirable characteristics appropriate for the practice of medicine as opposed to admitting students without these particular attributes and consequently left with the task of trying to instill them. Although an admission interview protocol is nearly a universal approach used at most medical schools to measure candidates' humanistic or noncognitive attributes, the interview process is criticized for being poorly structured, typically biased, and having low reliability and validity (Puryear & Lewis 1981;Johnson & Edwards 1991;Ferguson et al 2002;Goho & Blackman 2006).…”

“…Although the reliability of the interview has been improved through the use of structured approaches (Puryear & Lewis 1981;Powis et al 1988;Edwards et al 1990;Patrick et al 2001;Eva et al 2005), there still remains the issue of measuring relevant noncognitive domains of interest that extend beyond the self-confidence, motivation, and compatibility concerns related to the particular medical school. In identifying personality characteristics to measure, Taylor (1990) reported that 87 positive qualities of successful physicians are assessed in self-reported evaluation forms given to their applicants.…”

Using the Structured Interview for a More Reliable Assessment of Pharmacy Student Applicants

“…Health professional schools have historically used the interview as a method of assessing applicants' personal qualities. [20][21][22][23] Approximately 60% of schools of pharmacy require or may request applicant interviews during the admissions process (www.aacp.org). Edwards et al state 4 purposes for the admissions interview: information gathering, decision-making, verification, and recruitment.…”

“…Many schools in the health professions use an unstructured interview format, which is characterized by a conversational, informal style. 10,[21][22][23] With the unstructured interview format questions are not specified in advance and are not standardized (interviewers may ask different applicants significantly different questions). Most importantly, unstructured interviews have no objective scoring protocols.…”

A Content Analysis of Interviewee Reports of Medical School Admissions Interviews

“…[1][2][3] In fact, a survey reported that 99% of U.S. medical schools use an interview in their admissions process. 4 The medical school interview appears to serve four major purposes: information gathering, decision making, verification of information in the application, and recruitment. 3 Admissions personnel from 127 medical schools reported the most common characteristics assessed during the interview were motivation and interest in medical school (68%), interpersonal skills and character (61%), maturity (58%), evidence of extracurricular activities (56%), communication skills (46%), and empathy and concern for others (38%).…”