Selection of medical students at a medical faculty in South Africa.

The selection procedure at one medical faculty in the RSA was investigated. Students were admitted to the M.B. Ch.B. course on the basis of school results. Four groups were studied: matriculants; those selected after completing the 1st year of a B.Sc. course; those who had completed a full B.Sc. course; and those who had experience and other qualifications after leaving school. The matriculants were by far the largest group and the analysis of their marks received emphasis. Students who registered for their 1st year in 1980-1983 were followed up until the middle of their 3rd year. In total 635 students were assessed. The students' school results were compared with their preclinical marks. Chi-square tests for independence, multiple regression analysis, Pearson correlation coefficients and canonical correlation analysis were carried out. Although the results reflected a significant relationship between good selection marks and preclinical achievement, the strength of the association was too small for selection marks to have any reliable predictive value for an individual student. There was a low drop-out rate (5.4%) during the 1st year of study, but this rate increased threefold to 17.2% during the remaining preclinical period. This may indicate that the selection criteria were not specific enough to avoid this relatively large loss of students.