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Koenig, J.A. Comparison of Medical School Performances and Career Plans of Students with Broad and with Science-focused Premedical Preparation. Academic Medicine, 67;191-196, 1992.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate performance differences for medical students with differential undergraduate preparation. As part of this study, a method was developed to classify individuals as having a "science-focused" or "broad" undergraduate background.

METHODS: The classification method for this study was developed using input from medical school admissions officers. Students were classified as having broad or science-focused backgrounds based on their undergraduate majors, ratio of nonscience-to-science course hours, and extracurricular involvement. The classification method was then applied to a random sample of 1981 medical school entrants, and 132 students (59 broadly prepared and 73 science-focused) were selected for further study. Medical school performance as measured by NBME Parts I, II, and III, incidence of academic difficulty, and career plans were then compared for the two groups using analysis of variance (ANOVA), covariance (ANCOVA), and Chi-squares.

RESULTS: The broadly-based group scored significantly higher on the Behavioral Science section of the NBME Part I, while the science-focused group had significantly higher mean scores on the Physiology, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology sections. No other significant differences were discovered between the groups' mean scores on the NBME Parts I, II, or III, or in their experience of academic difficulty, choice of specialty distributions,or percentages of students pursuing research careers.

CONCLUSIONS: The author concluded that although the broadly-prepared group tended to do less well initially in medical school, the two groups' performance seemed to even out during the later years as evidenced by similar performance on Parts II and III of the NBME. The author emphasized that for institutions wishing to encourage well-rounded undergraduate preparation, these results suggest that such preparation will not negatively affect medical school performance.