Some predictive implications of premedical scientific competence and preferences

Abstract

Current medical school admissions criteria favor candidates with superior scientific aptitude and strong interests in scientific subjects. Four measures of this cluster were studied: Medical College Admission Test Science subtest scores, premedical grades in scientific subjects, preference for scientific subjects, and an equally weighted composite of these three. In a sample of 1,135 medical school graduates the four predictors were moderately related to academic performance in the first two years of medical school but almost completely unrelated to performance in the fourth year and to faculty ratings of general and clinical competence. The scientifically oriented graduates tended to enter specialties such as anesthesiology, pathology, and surgery, whereas graduates ranking lower on the overall index showed a slight tendency to prefer internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry. Ratings and adjectival descriptions of premedical students with above average scores on the four measures revealed them to be narrower in interests, less adaptable, less articulate, and less comfortable in interpersonal relationships than their lower scoring peers.