title: Entry to medical school--the gender question. What has happened?
abstract: Reform of medical schooI selection has generated concerns that the process favours male applicants. The gender profile, HPAT-Ireland and Leaving Certificate scores of all applicants in 2009-2011 (n = 9582) and the gender profile of entrants from 2008-2011 is presented. Small gender differences favouring males are evident in total HPAT-Ireland scores and subsection scores less than 7 and 4 points respectively with a total selection score impact of approximately 0.8%. In relation to Leaving Certificate performance, since 2009, eligible male applicants to medicine have tended to outperform females with less than 3 points mean difference which has an impact close to 0.7% as selection is still weighted in favour of this test. The gender profile of applicants securing a place has varied annually. Reforms may have inadvertently altered the gender distribution in medical school but there is no evidence that this is entirely attributable to the HPAT-Ireland test.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, UCC, Cork. siun.oflynn@ucc.ie
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Flynn
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
mesh_terms: D003099:College Admission Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000639:trends; D063507:Sexism / Q000639:trends*