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Analysis of Medical School Clerkship Grading Systems for Matched Plastic Surgery Applicants
Taborah Z. Zaramo B.S, Jordan Haber B.S, Nojan Bajestani B.S, Hunter Stecko B.S, Kerry-Ann S. Mitchell MD PhD, Cristiane Ueno MD
The Ohio State University Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
2023-02-10
Presenter: Taborah Zaramo
Affidavit:
This work is orginal
Director Name: Gregory D. Pearson, MD
Author Category: Medical Student
Presentation Category: Clinical
Abstract Category: General Reconstruction
Background:
There is considerable variation in clinical clerkship grading scales among medical schools. With the absence of step 1 score, this lack of standardization may be disadvantageous towards Plastic Surgery (PRS) applicants from institutions that grade more competitively. The aim of this study is to evaluate the percent of clerkship honors awarded at medical schools and the influence of grade distributions in relation to PRS matching.
Methods:
We identified 300 matched plastic surgery residents that attended 58 medical schools from 2020-2022. We extracted grade distribution and percentage of clerkship honors from publicly available MSPE data. US News and World Report (USNWR) ranking was collected for each institution. Bivariate linear regression and student t-test were used to determine significance in scores.
Results:
Fifty-two institutions reported grade distributions and 6 did not. Clerkship honors awarded to students ranged from 5% to 68%. There were a higher number of matched applicants (n=172, from schools where honors were awarded to over 40% of students (p=0.0016). Further, top 25 schools were more likely to award more students with honors whereas institutions ranked below 25 where less likely to award honors (44% vs. 30%, p =0.0037).
Conclusion:
Although the match process is multifactorial, grades are a critical component of the application. PRS programs should be astute in understanding the differences in medical school grading systems and recognize that top institutions award honors more often, despite similar absolute grades. A more standardized approach to clerkship grades is needed to compare academic performance of PRS applicants more objectively.
