Comparing the cognitive, personality and moral characteristics of high school and graduate medical entrants to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran

Background: Tehran University of Medical Sciences has two streams of medical student admission: an established high school entry (HSE) route and an experimental graduate entry (GE) route. Aim: To compare the cognitive skills, personality traits and moral characteristics of HSE and GE students admitted to this university. Methods: The personal qualities assessment tool (PQA; www.pqa.net.au) was translated from English to Persian and then back-translated. Afterwards 35 individuals from the GE and 109 individuals from the 2007 to 2008 HSE completed the test. The results were compared by t-test and Chi-square. Results: The HSE students showed significantly higher ability in the cognitive skills tests (p < 0.001). They were also more libertarian (p = 0.022), but had lower ability to confront stress and unpleasant events (p < 0.001), and had lower self-awareness and self-control (p < 0.001). Conclusion: On the basis of their personal qualities, the GE students had more self-control and strength when coping with stress than the HSE students, but the latter had superior cognitive abilities. Hence it may be useful to include cognitive tests in GE students’ entry exam and include tests of personal qualities to exclude those with unsuitable characteristics