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Evaluating the internal structure validity of admissions measures: do they capture distinct attributes?
Kent G Hecker1, Sneha Shankar2, Connor Maxey1
1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Frontiers in Veterinary Science
|August 6, 2026
Summary
Veterinary admissions measures assess distinct academic, social-emotional, and contextual factors. These multiple attributes should be considered collectively for effective applicant selection.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Education
- Admissions Assessment
- Psychometrics
Background:
- Veterinary admissions committees seek candidates with academic and non-academic strengths.
- Traditional metrics like undergraduate GPA and test scores are supplemented by assessments of social-emotional skills and contextual attributes.
- Internal structure validity is crucial for multi-attribute admissions measures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the internal structure of veterinary admissions measures.
- To determine if commonly used admissions metrics reflect distinct academic, social-emotional, and contextual factors.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective cohort study of 338 veterinary applicants (2022-2024).
- Admissions measures included undergraduate GPA, MCAT, MMI, Casper, essay ratings, and file review.
- Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to analyze the internal structure of the data.
Main Results:
- EFA identified a three-factor solution explaining 53.36% of the variance.
- Factors were labeled: Academic Ability (uGPA, MCAT academic subscores), Social-Emotional Skills (essay, Casper, MCAT social-emotional subscore, partial MMI), and Contextual Factors (file review, partial MMI).
- The Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) demonstrated a multifaceted contribution to both social-emotional and contextual factors.
Conclusions:
- Findings provide validity evidence that admissions measures capture distinct attributes.
- Admissions measures should be viewed as a collective assessment system.
- Results support further longitudinal research on predictive validity for veterinary training performance.
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