ArticleBMC medical education2022
Prior degree and academic performance in medical school: evidence for prioritising health students and moving away from a bio-medical science-focused entry stream.
Article in BMC medical education, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- (How) does majoring in the social sciences and humanities relate to specialty choice?: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- If you build it who will come? Widening access through a place-based Rural Training Stream to address local medical workforce shortages.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Influence of Admission Pathways on Learning Strategies, Assessment Engagement, and Academic Performance Among First-Year Medical Students: Mixed Methods Retrospective Observational and Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Observational
- Expanding recruitment to medical school: the motivations for and perceived barriers to entry of non-science entrants to a graduate-entry medical course: a qualitative study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Comparison of academic performance of medical students previously and non-previously graduated from other college courses in a PBL hybrid curriculum.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Final-Year Dental Students' Perceived Confidence: Competencies in General Dentistry.Dentistry journal · 2025Article
- Importance of managerial roles in physician leaders' work evaluated by medical students: a mixed methods approach.Journal of health organization and management · 2025Article
- Pathology skills lab: use of macroscopic tumor models in pathology teaching.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Determining the Optimal Stimulation Sessions for TMS-Induced Recovery of Upper Extremity Motor Function Post Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Brain sciences · 2023Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundGiven the importance of the selection process, many medical schools are reviewing their selection criteria. The traditional pathway for post-graduate medicine has been from science-based undergraduate degrees, however some programs are expanding their criteria. In this study we investigated academic success across all years and themes of the Deakin University medical degree, based on the type of degree undertaken prior to admission. We evaluated whether the traditional pathway of biomedical science into medicine should remain the undergraduate degree of choice, or whether other disciplines should be encouraged.
methodsData from 1159 students entering the degree from 2008 to 2016 was collected including undergraduate degree, grade point average (GPA), Graduate Medical Schools Admission Test (GAMSAT) score and academic outcomes during the 4 years of the degree. Z-scores were calculated for each assessment within each cohort and analysed using a one sample t-test to determine if they differed from the cohort average. Z-scores between groups were analysed by 1-way ANOVA with LSD post-hoc analysis correcting for multiple comparisons.
resultsThe majority of students had Science (34.3%) or Biomedical Science (31.0%) backgrounds. 27.9% of students had a Health-related undergraduate degree with smaller numbers of students from Business (3.5%) and Humanities (3.4%) backgrounds. At entry, GPA and GAMSAT scores varied significantly with Biomedical Science and Science students having significantly higher scores than Health students. Health students consistently outperformed students from other disciplines in all themes while Biomedical Science students underperformed.
conclusionsOur data suggest that a Health-related undergraduate degree results in the best performance throughout medical school, whereas a Biomedical Science background is associated with lower performance. These findings challenge the traditional Biomedical Science pathway into medicine and suggest that a health background might be more favourable when determining the selection criteria for graduate entry into medicine.
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