Purpose: Despite medical schools having some system in place to review student progress and promote students (referred to hereafter as academic review and promotions; ARP), little research has been done with the purpose of understanding personality characteristics of the students who appear before an ARP committee or governing body. A recent study by Wear et al. (2004) sought to examine and understand how medical students experienced the ARP process from students' perspectives and described students' attitudes, beliefs, explanations, and orientations about the ARP process. Although Wear et al. investigated many factors related to the ARP process; personality was not one of them. The authors sought to further research in medical student persistence by investigating the role that personality plays in ARP appearances. Specifically, this exploratory study sought to determine if personality differences exist between medical students who appear before ARP and students who do not. Methods: The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF: Cattell, Cattell & Cattell, 1993) was administered to 630 students during their first year of medical school. Of these students, 175 (100 males, 75 females) appeared before ARP one or more times. Results: An ANOVA, conducted to determine if personality differences existed between students who had appeared before ARP and students who did not, revealed no significant differences. Discussion: In aiding medical educators to better understand factors that explain which students are more likely to appear before ARP and their recidivism rate, personality does not seem to be among the non-cognitive factors. However, given that the 16PF provides only one measure of personality, future studies should consider using alternative measures to further investigate the role that personality may play in the ARP process. Additionally, in order to identify relevant themes, it is suggested that qualitative inquiry be used for follow-up studies. (Contains 1 table.)