Effects of Entry Grades on Students’ Academic Performance Under Homogeneous Educational Resources

Abstract

Background

A minor difference in college entrance examination scores can result in vastly different educational resources in China, so it has been debated whether it is the difference in the student population or the difference in educational resources that causes the difference in medical graduates. We aimed to evaluate the effects of entry grades on students’ academic performance under homogeneous educational resources.

Methods

Students in grade 2016 with 13-point difference in the average admission scores of 2 medicine schools in Sun Yat-sen University were educated in mixed classes and were taught with the same educators during the 5 years of undergraduate period. The grades, graduation, and postgraduate enrollment rates of the students were compared between the two campuses.

Results

The average admission scores for Shenzhen Campus (SZC) students are 13 points lower than those of Guangzhou North Campus (GZNC) (613 points vs 626 points). After 5 years of homogeneous education, comparing the GZNC students with the SZC students, there were no significant differences in the average total score (80.2 ± 4.6 vs 80.0 ± 5.6, P = 0.691), the average compulsory course (78.9 ± 3.4 vs 78.4 ± 6.1, P = 0.438), the average core course score (78.8 ± 7.4 vs 78.7 ± 5.0, P=0.860) and the average clerkship score (85.1 ± 7.2 vs 84.6 ± 2.7, P=0.275). However, the completion rate for SZC was higher than for GZNC (93.94% vs 86.27%, P=0.009). There was no statistical difference in postgraduate enrolment between the two institutions (P=0.758).

Conclusion

Given the same educational resources, more medical students with lower entrance scores completed their studies and achieved the same percentage of postgraduate acceptance. This finding suggests that a key component of improving the quality of medical higher education in China may be to further rationalize the allocation of high-quality educational resources, rather than to pursuing students with high entrance examination scores.

Key Messages

• 1. Undergraduates from two medical schools with different average admission scores were educated with the same resources during the 5-year undergraduate period. After 5 years of homogeneous education, more students with lower entrance scores completed their studies and achieved the same percentage of postgraduate acceptance.

2. The key to improving educational quality is to optimize educational resources, not just to recruit high-scoring students.

Keywords:

• medical education
• teaching quality
• student quality
• education sources

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request and it’s not publicly available.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University waived the requirement for informed consent for the study because the study did not involve any personal information. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations for the present study and this study and it’s protocol was approved by the Guangdong Provincial Education Science Planning Office.

Consent for Publication

All authors gave their consent for publication.

Acknowledgments

We thank all colleagues at Sun Yat-sen University for their excellent data collection and analysis.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

All authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

1. 2021 Guangdong Province Education planning project (Higher education special project:2021GXJK339). 2. 2023 University level teaching quality and teaching reform project (80000-12220011).