Scholastic Achievements: Graduate-entry vs. School-leaver-entry Medical Students.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study is to conduct a retrospective analysis comparing graduate-entry program (GEP) and school-leaver-entry program (SEP) students from the perspective of scholastic achievements from admission through the national examination for medical practitioners. METHODS: The number of students who repeated one or more years, because of their poor results on examinations, the scores of graduation examinations, and the pass rates for the national examination for medical practitioners were compared, retrospectively, over the last 8 academic years between GEP and SEP students at Tokai University School of Medicine. RESULTS: The ratio of students who graduated in the prescribed course length was significantly higher (p = 0.002) in GEP students than that in SEP students. There were no differences between the average scores on the graduation examinations for GEP and SEP students, except in two academic years. The pass rate of GEP students (97%) of the national examination for medical practitioners was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of SEP students (89%). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that GEP students are more favorable candidates in terms of becoming physicians in the usualprescribed number of years than SEP students.