Prediction of medical school performance: Use of admission interview report narratives

Abstract

Background: Most American medical schools interview candidates as part of the selection process for admission and require interviewers to record written comments regarding their impressions of candidates they meet. Admission committees use this interview data to select their candidates for admission assuming that interviewers’ written assertions will forecast future achievement of matriculants in medical school. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether particular attributes of applicants elicited by probe statements on the admission interview report form were associated with performance indices in medical school. Methods: In this study, 930 interview reports were coded for matriculants at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine from 1984 to 1988. Data from the content analysis of the interview reports were correlated with medical school grade point averages and performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners Part I and Part II examinations. Results: Comments from the interview report responding to probes regarding experience and knowledge of the profession, source of motivation, degree of educational, economic, and social advantagedness, and the overall summary were associated with student performance in medical school. Conclusion: Studies such as these give admission committee members insight into applicant attributes that may be positively associated with medical school performance.