Medical Student Selection Process and Its Pre-Admission Scores Association with the New Students' Academic Performance in Universiti Sains Malaysia

摘要

Context: Upon graduation, graduates are expected to repay the society by providing the highest quality of medical care services. Thus, medical schools should pay more attention to the student selection procedures to ensure societal expectations are addressed appropriately.Objectives: This article describes a medical student selection process that has been conducted by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and its pre-admission scores association with the new students' academic performance.Methods: A semi-independent student selection process was conducted by USM medical school. A total of 600 applicants were short-listed based on their performance in the past scholastic achievement and a psychometric test. They were called for interview and 196 candidates will be selected to enter medical course. This cohort of students were followed up and appraised with regard to their academic performance in medical studies against their past scholastic achievement, and psychometric and interview scores.Findings: Approximately 486 turned up for interview and 196 candidates were selected to undergo the medical course. The distribution of successful candidates reflects the Malaysian population with regard of gender, race and socioeconomic strata. Students who obtained high interview scores demonstrated good academic performance (p < 0.05). High School Certificate (HSC) students obtained good marks across the examinations (p < 0.01). The CGPA and psychometric scores were not associated with academic performance (p > 0.05).Conclusion: This study found that the medical student selection process that was adopted by USM was acceptable and feasible. It has addressed issues of social inclusivity and socioeconomic strata. The interview score has shown a promising predictive capacity in selecting suitable candidates for the first year medical course. The psychometric assessment should be relooked as it showed a consistent unpredictive capacity throughout the first year examinations. The effectiveness and usefulness of the student selection is yet to be seen in the future.