Academic performance of medical students. A predictable result?

Background: Traditionally, medical schools demand their students a high ded ication in time, responsibility and integrity. Aim: To assess the predictiv e capacity of several specific variables, on the academic performance of me dical students. Material and methods: All students who entered during 1984- 1995 period were studied. The academic performance was assessed using two i ndices: an overall evaluation of successfulness as determined by the approv al rate in different courses and grade-point average obtained during the fi rst three years at the Medical School. The variables used to predict academ ic performance were year of enrollment, high school grades, university admi ssion test scores, biomedical and demographic characteristics. All these we re measured at the time when the student was enrolled. Results: Eight hundr ed and eight students were studies at the end of the third year. The most i mportant predictive variables selected for both performance indices were: h ighs school grades, admission biology test scores, place were high school s tudies were done, and previous university studies. In addition verbal and m athematics admission academic performance tests scores were selected for gr ade-point average index. Although, the overall admission score and high sch ool academic performance were significantly associated with the two outcome s, they were not selected in the final models. Conclusions: The best predic tors of an optimal academic performance in these medical students were high school grades, admission biology test scores, residing in Metropolitan San tiago and previous university studies.