The notion that medical education is a rigidly structured system, consisting of a few, relatively fixed patterns leading to different career outcomes, was not supported in this study using data from the Association of American Medical College's Longitudinal Study. Evidence was found of stratification among structural factors that influence access…

A total of 350 medical students completed a questionnaire dealing with various aspects of a career in medicine, including specialty preference and choice decisions. Difference between specialty preference and choice were found for the total group as well as for male and female comparisons. Factors contributing to the differences are discussed.…

A family medicine preceptorship program is outlined and students' reactions to it are discussed. The reactions of the preceptors to the program components and to the student participants are described. (MLW)

The responses of two classes of medical students on both the original and abbreviated versions of the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) are examined. The purpose was to identify the extent to which MBTI numerical scores and the MBTI personality types represented by the numerical scores are congruent between the forms.

Data examined in this study, gathered from the AAMC Longitudinal Study and the AMA Physician Masterfile, support the claim that the age of the student when he or she actually makes the decision to go to medical school is related to the specialty selected. In both obstetric-gynecology and general surgery, more than half of the students were among…

Results of the National Resident Matching Program are discussed, including changes in enrollment, withdrawal, and matching patterns, data on foreign medical graduates, ratio of positions per applicant, specialization patterns, and program participation. Tabulations for each specialty are presented in numerical and percentage forms. (MSE)

Academic performance among male and female medical school students are examined along with students' subjective self-ratings. The hypothesis that females would view themselves more negatively, relative to their academic performance, than would males was supported. (LBH)

Two successive classes of entering medical students at the University of Colorado indicated specialty choices and their degree of certainty about them in the freshman, sophomore, and senior years. Nearly three-fourths switched specialties between freshman and senior years. Results are analyzed with respect to individual specialty areas. (Editor/JT)

Data are provided on wives' influence on medical students' decisions about their choice of medical speciality, organization of practice (solo or group), and geographical location of practice. Interviews and questionnaires provided the information from a group of wives of Medical College of Ohio medical students. (LBH)

A study of physicians who had graduated from or had matriculated without graduating from dental school prior to entering a medical school focused on reasons for career choices, medical school admissions process, academic perfromance in both schools, medical specialty, and attitudes toward dentistry and medicine. (Editor/JT)

There is an acute need to revise premedical advising to better meet the needs of students. Medical schools should share the responsibility and initiative in creating a system whereby career choices are made by positive actions on the part of students rather than by trial and error or default. (Author/LBH)

A study of the influence of clinical experiences on one medical school's students' choice of specialty found that neither early exposure to role models in family medicine nor the order in which specialty clerkships were taken significantly affected students' choice of family medicine. (MSE)

Medical students at Wright State University School of Medicine were asked to rate specialties as most and least stressful, to indicate whether they considered stress to be favorable or unfavorable, and to complete instruments measuring stress. There was no significant association among high stress and choice of least stressful specialties.…

Theories of decision-making were used to study the differences between first-year medical students in North Carolina who preferred family medicine and those who preferred other specialities. Students who preferred family medicine were more interested in using medicine as a tool to help people. (Author/MLW)