What Influences the Decision to Interview a Candidate for Medical School?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Admissions Strategy
• Health Professions Workforce Diversity

Background:

• Holistic review has been implemented in medical schools for over a decade.
• Its impact on interview and acceptance rates remains an area of interest for applicants and admissions committees.
• Understanding how holistic review influences applicant selection is crucial for medical school diversity goals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of holistic review on interview invitations at the Uniformed Services University (USU).
• To determine which applicant attributes, beyond academic metrics, predict interview offers.
• To assess if holistic review enhances the representativeness of the interviewed and accepted medical student classes.

Main Methods:

• Logistic regression analysis of 8,920 applicants to USU School of Medicine from 2014-2016.
• Examination of sociodemographic, academic, and military service variables.
• Comparison of factors predicting interview offers.

Main Results:

• Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and undergraduate grade point averages (GPA) were significant predictors of interview invitations.
• Military experience, identifying as female, and self-reported African American race also positively predicted interview offers.
• Applicants with military experience had approximately four times the odds of receiving an interview invitation, controlling for other factors.

Conclusions:

• Holistic review generates a medical school class composition distinct from predictions based solely on MCAT and GPA.
• The USU utilized holistic review to create a more representative interview pool and accepted class.
• This approach enabled USU to better fulfill its mission of training a diverse corps to serve military personnel and their families.