The St Andrews MD (1935-1972)

The St Andrews MD, 1935--1972, has been investigated. The number of awards has declined and the porportion of doctors proceeding to MD has also declined. The average time between the award of the MD ChB degree and the MD degree was 11 years. About one third of the awards were at the Honours or Commendation grade. Only two doctors gained Honours in both the MB ChB and the MD. A smaller proportion of women gianed an MD degree, but of those that did a similar proportion received Honours or Commendation as in the male group. Laboratory-based studies are more likely to attract the higher grades of award compared with clinically based studies. Subsequent achievement areas show almost half the graduates to be in clinical or laboratory hospital work, 15% in administrative posts, 27% in academic posts but only 5% in general practice. Even less are in industry or the services.