Medical education. II. Medicine or science--a study of career decisions.

A study of the career decisions of all students in a single matriculation cohort was undertaken in 1965 at the University of British Columbia. Studied were 64 premedical students, 112 ex-premedical students and 87 science students who had completed at least their second year. It was found by means of a questionnaire that medicine remained the career of high prestige for the three groups of students. In general the values and needs of the ex-premedical student were more similar to those of the science student than the premedical student. The loyalists to medicine were found to be more committed, self-assured, and orientated towards people and service. In addition, the premedical student was more concerned about his academic achievement but was also more confident of his progress. He emerged at the end of his training as the committed student who had chosen medicine at an early age and had remained loyal to his chosen career goal.