Sociodemographic and academic characteristics of the admission profile of students, faculty of dentistry, University of Costa Rica 2007-2014 / Características sociodemográficas y académicas del perfil de ingreso de estudiantes de la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad de Costa Rica 2007-2014

The objective of this research was to determine some of the sociodemographic and academic characteristics of the students who entered the Dentistry career in the period 2007 to 2014. Data was collected from 673 student files. The variables considered were sex, admission age, marital status, children, nationality, place of origin, high school of origin, and admission exam score. The data was obtained from the database of the Student Applications System, the physical files, and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica. Descriptive statistics were performed, establishing the absolute and relative frequency of the variables. The Mann-Whitney test was used to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the admission exam and the established sociodemographic variables (p<0,05, IC 95%). 68,4% of the students are female. The average age was 18.4 years (SD=2,41). 99,0% of the students are from Costa Rica. 99,3% were single and only 0,9% had children. The largest number of students entered through an admission exam (78.9%) and 50.7% studied at a public high school. Regarding the address, 77.9% of the subjects resided in the Greater Metropolitan Area. The average grade of the admission exam was 613,8 (SD=49,95). There was a statistically significant difference between the entrance exam grade and the different types of high schools of origin. The group of students who entered to train as Dentists at the University of Costa Rica from 2007 to 2014 was a population with an average age of entry of 18,4 years, Costa Rican, predominantly female, single, without children, from geographic areas within the Greater Metropolitan Area (GMA), graduated from public schools with an average admission exam grade of 612,2.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar algunas de las características sociodemográficas y académicas de los estudiantes que ingresaron a la carrera de Odontología en el período 2007 al 2014. Se recopilaron los datos de 673 expedientes de los estudiantes. Las variables consideradas fueron: sexo, edad de ingreso, estado civil, hijos, nacionalidad, lugar de procedencia, colegio de procedencia y nota de examen de admisión. Los datos se obtuvieron de la base de datos del Sistema de Aplicaciones Estudiantiles (SAE), los expedientes físicos y del Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica. Se realizó estadística descriptiva estableciendo la frecuencia absoluta y relativa de las variables. Se empleó el test de Mann Whitney para determinar si existían diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre el examen de admisión y las variables sociodemográficas establecidas (p<0,05, IC 95%). El 68,4% de los estudiantes pertenecen al sexo femenino. La edad promedio fue de 18,4 años (DS=2,41). El 99,0% de los discentes son de nacionalidad costarricense. El 99,3% eran solteros y sólo el 0,9% tenían hijos. La mayor cantidad de estudiantes ingresaron por examen de admisión (78,9%) y el 50,7% cursó sus estudios en un colegio público. Respecto al domicilio, el 77,9% de los sujetos residían en el Gran Área Metropolitana. El promedio de nota del examen de admisión fue de 613,8 (DS=49,95). Hubo una diferencia estadísticamente significativa entre la nota del examen de admisión y los diferentes tipos de colegios de procedencia. El grupo de estudiantes que ingresaron a formarse como Odontólogos en la Universidad de Costa Rica en el periodo de 2007 al 2014 fue una población con un promedio una edad de ingreso de 18,4 años predominantemente femenina, costarricense, soltera, sin hijos, proveniente de áreas geográficas dentro del Gran Área Metropolitana (GAM), egresadas de colegios públicos con un promedio de nota de examen de admisión de 612,2.

Admission to medical schools in Sri Lanka: predictive validity of selection criteria.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the extent to which current selection criteria predict success in Sri Lanka's medical schools. METHODS: The study sample consisted of all students selected to all six medical schools in two consecutive entry cohorts. The aggregate marks of these students at the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level examination, the district of entry, admission category, candidate type (school/private) and gender, were identified as entry point variables. Success in medical school was measured in four ways: the ability to pass the first summative examination and the final examination at the first attempt, and obtaining honours in either examination. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression was used to assess the extent to which these entry point factors predict variability in outcome measures. RESULTS: Aggregate scores among the 1740 students in the study sample ranged from 212 to 356, with a median of 285. The male:female ratio was 1.4:1. Private candidates (taking the examination for the third time) accounted for 22% of students. Being a school candidate, female and having a higher aggregate score, were the only independent predictors of success for all four outcome measures. The aggregate score alone accounted for only 1-7% of the variation in performance in medical school. CONCLUSIONS: Marks obtained at the A Level examination (the only academic criterion currently used for selection of medical students in Sri Lanka) is a poor predictor of success in medical school.

Review of admission of MBBS students at KMC.

This is an account regarding the intake of the 7th batch of MBBS students at Kathmandu Medical College (KMC) for the academic session 2003-2004. A total of 257 admission forms had been issued to Nepali students. Of these, 252 admission forms were filled up and were submitted to KMC together with the completed questionnaire by the Nepali students. Seven students (approximately 2.7%) did not attend interview. After the interview, out of the 245 interviewed students, the names of only 50 were brought out in the 1st list for admission. The paper presents the system for admission of MBBS students and has made recommendations for future action.

Academic performance of various categories of students admitted to Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi.

A retrospective study of 4 consecutive academic batches of students was conducted to analyse the performance level of students in 3 university examinations of MBBS. The students were divided into 3 categories based on the criteria of entrance into the medical college. The category I included students who entered through a tough pre-medical test, category II comprised those nominated by government and defence personnel and category III included the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe students. The results of the category I was remarkably better than that of II while that of category III was dismal. The last two categories had a large number of students leaving the college without completing their course resulting in 5.4% wastage of precious medical seats and psychological distress. Necessary remedial measures must be planned at the earliest.

Rendimiento académico en el primer año y su relación con las variables de ingreso en las escuelas de medicina / Academic performance in the first year and it relation with admission variables in medical schools

Chilean universities employ a common admission scoring system for students, based on high school grades, mathematic and verbal academic aptitude tests, and specific biology and social sciences tests. Aiming to know the predictive values of these tests, the standarized scores obtained in the selection tests and academic performance of 1094 first year medical students, admitted in 1989 and 1990 to six universities, were analyzed. These students obtained high admission scores and their academic performance during the first year was low (mean grades ranged from 4.6 ñ 0.6 to 5.28 ñ 0.5 in different universities for a scale from 1 to 7). In all, except one university there was a correlation between admission scores and academic performance. Multiple regression analysis showed that admission scores explained a 13 percent of performance and that the parameters with better predictive value were high school grades, biology test and mathematics academic aptitude test, Verbal academic aptitude test did not have a predictive value