Selection criteria and pre-clinical academic performance in a private medical college in Nepal: A case study

Abstract

Background: All medical schools in Nepal use academic merit as the criterion for selecting students. Medical educationists in Nepal seek to make the selection process more transparent and fair to applicants from different socio-economic backgrounds, while striving to raise the educational standards.Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of selection methods in relation to academic success.Method: Formative and Summative scores of three groups that had used different selection criteria were obtained and subjected to statistical analysis.Results: The group selected through an interview (INT) showed significantly better performance on the formative exam in Year 1. Scores of the first come first served group (FCF) on Summative exam in Year 1 were significantly lower than those of INT or the group selected from the entrance exam merit list (KUM), with also the lowest pass rate. No significant differences were present amongst the formative or summative scores of the groups in Year 2, albeit INT which showed the highest pass rate.Conclusion: The academic performance of students at the end of two years of basic sciences does not appear to correlate with pre-admission academic merit. The usefulness of an interview is reflected in a higher pass rate. It might be worthwhile to include an interview in the selection process with a concomitant change in the methods of student assessment.