Abstract
BackgroundThe weight of social inequalities during education is a reality. Students of lower socioeconomic status may have less chance of success in higher education, particularly in medical studies. However, the role of students’ socioeconomic factors, such as their parents’ profession, in their success in the national ranking exam (NRE) has not been studied.Our aim was to investigate the association between socioeconomic factors and success in the national ranking exam among sixth year medical students at the Paris-Sud Faculty of Medicine.MethodsThis was a prospective survey of all sixth-year medical students at the Paris-Sud Faculty of Medicine, using a questionnaire on socioeconomic factors, which were compared according to NRE rank.ResultsOf 172 sixth year medical students, 110 completed the questionnaire. Their ranking ranged from 20 to 7695, with a median of 2815 (interquartile range: 1029–4581). The factors associated with the NRE rank were a high school diploma (baccalauréat) A or B grade, success at the first attempt in the first-year medical examination, and enrollment in the NRE preparatory lectures during the sixth year of medical training (linear regression, p < 0.001). The educational status and socio-professional category of the parents were not associated with the NRE rank (linear regression, p = 0.92).ConclusionAt the Paris-Sud Faculty of Medicine, there was no association between parental socioeconomic status and sixth year students’ success in the NRE.
Highlights
The weight of social inequalities during education is a reality
The individual characteristics of the students are summarized in Table 1. 96.4% of the students had a high school diploma A or B grade, and more than one-third had an A grade
All students had passed the first-year medical examination, 41.6% at the first attempt. 14.5% had a student job during their fifth year of medical training, but none had a job during the sixth year. 13.6% of the students had a grant of some sort
Summary
The weight of social inequalities during education is a reality. Students of lower socioeconomic status may have less chance of success in higher education, in medical studies. The role of students’ socioeconomic factors, such as their parents’ profession, in their success in the national ranking exam (NRE) has not been studied. Our aim was to investigate the association between socioeconomic factors and success in the national ranking exam among sixth year medical students at the Paris-Sud Faculty of Medicine. In France, the decree of 16 January 2004 changed postgraduate medical studies from a competitive examination system to a national ranking exam (NRE) enabling access to internship in a specialty [1]. The social origin of parents influences their offspring’s academic success, which, along with choice of higher studies, is significantly less for the children of blue-collar workers than for the children of white-collar workers [4]. Medical students with more highly educated parents reported more support, but parent support had no relationship with students’ academic performance or attitudes to their career [5]
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