Benefits of a professional training year for undergraduates on a neuroscience degree scheme

The benefits of undergraduate students taking a professional training year (PTY) as part of their neuroscience degree have been analyzed for fifteen cohorts of students between 1994 and 2008. Those students taking the PTY scored 4.4% more in their final year aggregated total than those who did not. In addition, these students were 2.58 times more likely to gain a first class degree and 4.8 times less likely to gain a second class (division two) degree than those who did not take the placement year. Analysis of final year marks, whether or not they had taken the PTY, indicated a significantly better performance by female students. Progression onwards to postgraduate study for a PhD was almost four times higher for PTY students than for those not taking the PTY. No PTY students progressed on to a Masters scheme of postgraduate study whereas a small number of three year students did. The benefits of a PTY also extended to students' self-enhancement and maturity as judged by themselves, their peers and by academic staff. This study, the first for the relatively new undergraduate discipline of neuroscience, confirms earlier findings for other academic disciplines.