Graduate Entry and Undergraduate Entry Medicine students at UCD Have Similar Grade Distributions

Background The Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) programme at UCD has been in existence since 2007 and graduated it’s second intake of students as qualified doctors in 2012. We asked if there was any difference in the distribution of grades arising from their final degree GPA among Graduate Entry and their fellow Undergraduate Entry (UEM) Programme classmates in the Class of 2012. METHODS De-identified results were obtained and compared statistically using appropriate non-parametric tests in SPSSv18. RESULTS A total of 181 students graduated from their Final Stages of their Medicine Degree in 2012 (GEM n=35, UEM n=146). Overall, there were 5 first class (1H) honours (GEM n=0, UEM n=5), 81 2H1 honours (GEM n=13, UEM n=68), 74 2H2 honours (GEM n=21, UEM n=53) and 21 passes (P) (GEM n=1, UEM n=20). No students who undertook the final assessment received a fail grade. There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of grades across the group of GEM students versus UEM students (independent samples MannWhitney U test p=0.487). There was no significant difference in the median grades obtained between the two student groups (independent samples Median test p=0.171). CONCLUSION GEM students, compared to their corresponding classmates in the UEM programme, show no significant difference in their final degree grades, pointing to a similar academic performance irrespective of the mode of entry into the Medicine Degree programmes at UCD Medical School(ref).