Predicting minority studentsʼ success in medical school

Abstract

Despite recent attention to minority student recruitment and retention, data on predicting the success of minority medical students are scarce. Traditional predictors (college grades and scores on the Medical College Admission Test) have modest correlations with medical school grades and scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners examination for minority students. Nonetheless, admission committees also consider nontraditional variables when selecting minority students. Measures of nontraditional variables seem to assess types of intelligence not covered by traditional means. A system of organizing nontraditional or noncognitive variables into eight dimensions is proposed. The dimensions are self-concept, realistic, self-appraisal, understanding and dealing with racism, long-range goals, having a strong support person, showing leadership, having community involvement, and nontraditional knowledge acquired. Further, assessment should place more emphasis on recognizing and defining problems and on performance rather than knowledge. Combining traditional and nontraditional methods is best in selecting minority students, and sufficiently well developed measures exist in each area to make this a practical recommendation for any admission program.

Table of Contents

“…Colleges can revise current selection criteria to include a variety of assessment techniques, including portfolios, interviews, and perhaps other nontraditional methods of pretesting. Although there is concern over the cultural bias of SAT testing (Kalechstein and others, 1981;Dreisbach and Keogh, 1982;Steele, 1999;Jencks and Phillips, 1998;Guinier, 2001), most empirical research finds SATs and the academic rigor and selection of high school courses to be the best predictors of student persistence and success (Sedlacek and Prieto, 1990;Adelman, 1999). 3.…”

Indigenous Australian medical students’ perceptions of their medical school training

“…The most comprehensive information available to date on this topic comes from the USA 3,11–16 and Canada 17 . This literature suggests that factors such as access to financial assistance, personal support and academic assistance, the provision of Indigenous role models including doctors, access to a community environment away from the student’s home and the inclusion of an Indigenous health curriculum can affect the success and retention rates of Indigenous medical students 3,13,15,17 . The selectivity of the medical school and the student’s determination and ability to set long‐term goals also affect his or her success 13,15 .…”

Library use and academic achievement among medical students

“…Medical educators have written extensively on the factors affecting student performance in examinations (Mitchell 1990; Parker 1993), and on the relationship between examination grades and future performance in the practice of medicine (Gonnella et al 1993). Several predictors have been considered, including past academic performance (Lipton et al 1988; Montague & Odds 1990; Price & Dunne 1990) and race (Sedlacek & Prieto 1990; Xu et al 1993), but the students' level of library use has not apparently been considered as a possible factor. This lack of recent published information on how use of the library may be associated with academic achievement is surprising, given the pressure under which academic libraries now work.…”