Medical Students and Personality Testing

Personality testing may better predict success in medicine than cognitive assessment.
In the New York Times (1/14) Doctor and Patient column, Pauline W. Chen, MD, wrote that there is "no reliable standardized way to evaluate personality," so "it is inevitable that the MCAT will have a crucial role in medical school admission." But, "according to a recent study in the Journal of Applied Psychology," personality testing "may be more predictive of how successful students will be in medicine." Researchers found that conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness contributed to students' "success" in medical school, while extraverts, who "invariably struggled early on...ended up excelling as their training entailed less time in the classroom and more time with patients." Chen noted, however, that these tests "can be useful only after medical schools...decide what characteristics are most important."