Foster Karen
Department of Medical and Dental Education, University of Aberdeen, UK.
Clin Teach. 2014 Jul;11(4):307-10. doi: 10.1111/tct.12146.
Little is known about factors influencing applicants' choice of medical school, yet it is important that both the academic and non-academic needs of medical students are satisfied, and that medical schools attract students suited to the courses provided. Relevant evidence suggests that there are five main factors influencing choice: curriculum; reputation of the school; personal contact; location; and facilities. Aberdeen has the particular challenge of being the most northern medical school in the UK.
To address this challenge, and learning from the literature, a medical school open day was developed to showcase the medical school, the wider university and the city of Aberdeen.
The main messages from this small study were that interactive events were more popular than static displays, and that applicants preferred to interact with student representatives rather than just hear about student life, suggesting that the opportunity to ask questions and hear the 'uncensored' version of what being a student is like are important.
There are some generalisable messages about what prospective students want from an open day, which along with the prospectus and the website can contribute to informing choice. Further work is needed to identify what is critical in terms of first point of contact, and how much this influences the choice of medical school.
关于影响医学院校申请者选择的因素，人们了解甚少。然而，满足医学生的学术和非学术需求，以及医学院校吸引适合所提供课程的学生，这一点很重要。相关证据表明，有五个主要因素影响选择：课程设置；学校声誉；个人联系；地理位置；以及设施。阿伯丁作为英国最北部的医学院校，面临着特殊的挑战。
为应对这一挑战并借鉴相关文献，举办了一场医学院校开放日活动，以展示医学院校、更广泛的大学以及阿伯丁市。
这项小型研究的主要信息是，互动活动比静态展示更受欢迎，申请者更倾向于与学生代表互动，而不仅仅是了解学生生活，这表明提问的机会以及听到关于学生真实生活的“未经审查”版本很重要。
关于准学生在开放日想要了解什么，有一些可推广的信息，这些信息与招生简章和网站一起，有助于为选择提供参考。需要进一步开展工作，以确定首次接触时什么是关键因素，以及这对医学院校选择的影响程度。
