Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
Teach Learn Med. 2013;25(1):55-8. doi: 10.1080/10401334.2012.741536.
There is a paucity of research on whether application essays are a valid indicator of medical students' future performance.
The goal is to score medical school application essays systematically and examine the correlations between these essay scores and several indicators of student performance during medical school and internship.
A journalist created a scoring rubric based on the journalism literature and scored 2 required essays of students admitted to our university in 1 year (N = 145). We picked 7 indicators of medical school and internship performance and correlated these measures with overall essay scores: preclinical medical school grade point average (GPA), clinical medical school GPA, cumulative medical school GPA, U.S. Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 and 2 scores, and scores on a program director's evaluation measuring intern professionalism and expertise. We then examined the Pearson and Spearman correlations between essay scores and the outcomes.
Essay scores did not vary widely. American Medical College Application Service essay scores ranged from 3.3 to 4.5 (M = 4.11, SD = 0.15), and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences essay scores ranged from 2.9 to 4.5 (M = 4.09, SD = 0.17). None of the medical school or internship performance indicators was significantly correlated with the essay scores.
These findings raise questions about the utility of matriculation essays, a resource-intensive admission requirement.
目前关于申请论文是否能有效预测医学生未来表现的研究较少。
旨在系统地对医学院申请论文进行评分，并研究这些论文分数与医学生在医学院和实习期间的多项表现指标之间的相关性。
一位记者根据新闻专业文献制定了评分标准，并对一年内在我们大学入学的学生的 2 篇必选论文进行了评分（N=145）。我们选取了 7 项医学生和实习表现指标，并将这些指标与整体论文分数进行相关分析：基础医学阶段的平均绩点（GPA）、临床阶段的平均 GPA、累计 GPA、美国医师执照考试（USMLE）第 1 步和第 2 部分成绩，以及评估衡量实习生专业精神和专业知识的项目主任评分。然后，我们检查了论文分数与结果之间的 Pearson 和 Spearman 相关性。
论文分数差异不大。美国医学院申请服务论文分数范围为 3.3 到 4.5（M=4.11，SD=0.15），而统一服务大学卫生科学论文分数范围为 2.9 到 4.5（M=4.09，SD=0.17）。没有任何医学院或实习表现指标与论文分数显著相关。
这些发现对申请论文的效用提出了质疑，申请论文是一种资源密集型的入学要求。
