TY - JOUR
T1 - The art and science of selecting graduate students in the biomedical sciences
T2 - Performance in doctoral study of the foundational sciences
AU - Park, Hee Young
AU - Berkowitz, Oren
AU - Symes, Karen
AU - Dasgupta, Shoumita
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Park et al. The is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - The goal of this study was to investigate associations between admissions criteria and performance in Ph.D. programs at Boston University School of Medicine. The initial phase of this project examined student performance in the classroom component of a newly established curriculum named 'Foundations in Biomedical Sciences (FiBS)'. Quantitative measures including undergraduate grade point average (GPA), graduate record examination (GRE; a standardized, computer-based test) scores for the verbal (assessment of test takers' ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information and concepts provided in writing) and quantitative (assessment of test takers' problem-solving ability) components of the examination, previous research experience, and competitiveness of previous research institution were used in the study. These criteria were compared with competencies in the program defined as students who pass the curriculum as well as students categorized as High Performers. These data indicated that there is a significant positive correlation between FiBS performance and undergraduate GPA, GRE scores, and competitiveness of undergraduate institution. No significant correlations were found between FiBS performance and research background. By taking a data-driven approach to examine admissions and performance, we hope to refine our admissions criteria to facilitate an unbiased approach to recruitment of students in the life sciences and to share our strategy to support similar goals at other institutions.
AB - The goal of this study was to investigate associations between admissions criteria and performance in Ph.D. programs at Boston University School of Medicine. The initial phase of this project examined student performance in the classroom component of a newly established curriculum named 'Foundations in Biomedical Sciences (FiBS)'. Quantitative measures including undergraduate grade point average (GPA), graduate record examination (GRE; a standardized, computer-based test) scores for the verbal (assessment of test takers' ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information and concepts provided in writing) and quantitative (assessment of test takers' problem-solving ability) components of the examination, previous research experience, and competitiveness of previous research institution were used in the study. These criteria were compared with competencies in the program defined as students who pass the curriculum as well as students categorized as High Performers. These data indicated that there is a significant positive correlation between FiBS performance and undergraduate GPA, GRE scores, and competitiveness of undergraduate institution. No significant correlations were found between FiBS performance and research background. By taking a data-driven approach to examine admissions and performance, we hope to refine our admissions criteria to facilitate an unbiased approach to recruitment of students in the life sciences and to share our strategy to support similar goals at other institutions.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85044851289
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0193901
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0193901
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C2 - 29614110
AN - SCOPUS:85044851289
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
IS - 4
M1 - e0193901
ER -