Information from 206 of 219 graduating students in the class of 2016 at MWU/AZCOM was included in the analysis.
Table 1 shows the 2-tailed Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients for each of the prematriculation variables and the outcome variables of first- and second-year GPA and discipline and total scores on COMLEX-USA Level 1 and 2-CE. Undergraduate science GPA had small but statistically significant positive correlations with first-year (
r=0.285, n=208,
P<.001) and second-year (
r=0.285, n=206,
P<.001) medical school GPA. Undergraduate total GPA had moderate, statistically significant correlations with first-year (
r=0.326, n=208,
P<.001) and second-year (
r=0.331, n=206,
P<.001) medical school GPA and COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE total score (
r=0.226, n=210,
P=.001).
Of the MCAT component scores, verbal reasoning had small but statistically significant correlations with COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE total score (r=0.228, n=201, P=.001) and the COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE disciplines of family medicine (r=0.228, n=201, P=.001) and emergency medicine (r=0.220, n=201, P=.002). The MCAT biological sciences score was correlated with first-year (r=0.344, n=210, P<.001) and second-year (r=0.322, n=210, P<.001) medical school GPA; COMLEX-USA Level 1 total score (r=0.301, n=210, P<.001) and scores in the disciplines of physiology (r=0.334, n=210, P<.001), pharmacology (r=0.216, n=210, P=.002), and osteopathic principles and practice (r=0.273, n=210, P<.001); and COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE total score (r=0.253, n=201, P<0.001) and internal medicine discipline score (r=0.238, n=201, P=.001). Likewise, total MCAT score correlated with first-year (r=0.272, n=210, P<.001) and second-year (r=0.250, n=210, P<.001) medical school GPA; COMLEX-USA Level 1 total (r=0.296, n=210, P<.001), physiology (r=0.349, n=210, P<.001), pharmacology (r=0.214, n=210, P=.002), and osteopathic principles and practice (r=0.239, n=210, P<.001) scores; and COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE total (r=0.266, n=201, P<.001) and internal medicine (r=0.249, n=201, P<.001) scores. The MCAT physical sciences score and the average interview score did not have significant correlations with medical school GPA or COMLEX-USA Level 1 or Level 2-CE scores.
Results of the 2-tailed Pearson product-moment correlations comparing the prematriculation variables and each of the 7 osteopathic clinical competencies, as measured by the average score for each student across all third-year core rotations, are presented in
Table 2. If more than 1 preceptor, attending physician, or resident evaluated the student, the evaluation scores were averaged for that rotation. Average interview score had a small but statistically significant correlation with average medical knowledge competency (
r=0.233, n=209,
P=.01) score, as assessed on the student's core third-year rotations. No other variables compared in this analysis had significant correlations.
Results of the 2-tailed Pearson product-moment correlations for each of the prematriculation variables with the scored performance on the final OSCEs in the domains of history and physical examination skills, interpersonal skills, and the SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment, plan) note writing are presented in
Table 3. Each student performed at least 2 patient encounters, and the score in each area for each student was averaged across the patient encounters. No significant correlations with any of the prematriculation variables were found.
The association between the prematriculation variables and the proportion of students who failed the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE and failed to match are presented in
Table 4. Only one significant relationship, between the biological sciences MCAT score and failing the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE (
P=.009), was found.