Determination in rejected medical school applicants: a 10-year follow-up

In view of low admission rate to medical schools, a large number of applicants are rejected annually. This population is denied the fulfillment of its occupational goal and must decide either to reapply to medical school or to choose a different occupational path. The present study focused on the possible career paths of rejected applicants, their persistence in reapplication and eventual admittance. The closeness to medicine of the alternative career was examined by two dimensions: the situs and the status. The career paths were viewed with respect to pre-admission cognitive criteria and occupational status of the alternative choices as compared to medicine. The study's random sample comprised one-third of the unaccepted applicants to the Tel-Aviv University School of Medicine for the 1970 academic year. The research follow-up (n = 208) of the applicants was conducted in 1981. The results showed a strong determination on the part of the unaccepted applicants to persist in their choice of medicine: 59% of the subjects reapplied and graduated from medical school either in Israel or in other countries. This group was found to be significantly more persistent in its number of reapplications than subjects who turned to an alternative career path. Thus, persistence was rewarding. When an alternative occupation was chosen, the tendency was towards careers unrelated to medicine but with a similarly high occupational status. No significant differences were found in the pre-admission cognitive criteria between those who studied medicine and those who chose an alternative career. Motivation and determination seemed to be the dominant factors in the attainment of one's choice of medicine as a profession.