ArticleBMC medical education2026
From MCAT to USMLE: how familial background shapes medical student success.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStudents from families with higher levels of educational attainment are consistently overrepresented in medicine, whereas first-generation college students remain markedly underrepresented. Early evidence indicates that these inequities begin before matriculation, as lower parental education and family income are strongly associated with lower Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores. However, less is known about whether the performance gaps evident at the admissions stage persist into subsequent stages of medical training. This study examines whether familial educational background is associated with performance across three key milestones: MCAT, Step 1, and Step 2 CK.
objectivesThis study aims to explore whether students’ familial backgrounds significantly affects their academic progression through medical school. DESIGNS AND
methodsThis retrospective cohort study analyzed a deidentified dataset of 425 medical students from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, categorized into first-generation students, continuing-generation students, and children of physicians. Academic performance data included MCAT, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1, and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) scores. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc comparisons evaluated between-group differences.
resultsMCAT scores differed significantly across groups, with first-generation students scoring lower than continuing-generation students and children of physicians, and children of physicians outperforming continuing-generation students. No statistically significant differences were observed on Step 1 or Step 2 CK.
conclusionThese findings demonstrate that although students from less advantaged familial backgrounds begin medical school at a measurable disadvantage, these differences do not persist. This highlights the need to reconsider how admissions committees weigh standardized tests and underscores the importance of holistic approaches that recognize resilience, adaptability, and perseverance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.