Journal of medical education
-
It has been suggested that learning style, as measured by the Learning Style Inventory, can be associated with choice of a particular medical field and that individuals with certain learning styles in making career choices are influenced more than other students by particular learning experiences. In the replication study reported here the Learning Style Inventory was administered to over 200 practicing physicians and medical students. Contrary to the previous findings, the results of this study suggest that there is no association between learning style and career choice in medicine and no association between learning style and the kind of influences which were most important in making a career choice.
-
Medical College Admission Test scores and undergraduate grade-point averages show that both lower income applicants in general and minority applicants in particular are at a competitive disadvantage in gaining admission to medical school. This study examines the extent to which income and race, viewed independently of one another, affect these selection factors. By analyzing data collected by the Association of American Medical Colleges on applicants to the 1976-77 entering class, factors associated with race were found to have a far more significant influence on applicants' credentials than factors associated with lower family income. An admissions policy based exclusively on GPAs and/or MCAT scores would proportionately exclude minority applicants from medical education but would have no similar effect on lower income white applicants.