The Limited Difference in Students Has No Effect on the Quality of Teaching under Homogeneous Education Resources

Background Very limited studies have emphasized whether different admission scores have an impact on the quality of high education teaching. Methods In this work, 2016 undergraduates were included, who majored in clinical medicine at the School of Medicine (Shenzhen Campus,SZC) and the Zhongshan School of Medicine (Guangzhou North Campus,GZNC) at Sun Yat-sen University. There was a 13-point difference in the average admission scores in Guangdong Province. The limited different students were educated under exactly the same resources during the 5 years of undergraduate period. The grades, graduation, and postgraduate enrollment rates of the students were compared between the two campuses. Results After 5 years of homogeneous education, comparing the GZNC students with the SZC students, there were no significant differences in the average total score (80.2 ± 4.6 vs 80.0 ± 5.6, P = 0.691), the average compulsory course (78.9 ± 3.4 vs 78.4 ± 6.1, P = 0.438), the average core course score (78.8 ± 7.4 vs 78.7 ± 5.0, P = 0.860) and the average clerkship score (85.1 ± 7.2 vs 84.6 ± 2.7, P = 0.275). Only a significant difference in the average score of the 48-week internship could be observed (78.3 ± 4.2 vs 82.1 ± 4.0, P < 0.001) and it was a subjective grade. When students were classified and compared, those who ranked in the top 25% were considered outstanding students, there is no difference in the outstanding rate of total scores between students from the two campuses (33/165, 20% vs 90/415, 21.4%, P = 0.652). Furthermore, there are no statistical differences in postgraduate enrollment between the two campuses (P = 0.758). Conclusions After 5 years of homogeneous education, students with limited different admission grades showed similar educational quality, including similar academic scores, as well as similar postgraduate admission rate, which strongly suggesting that the key to improving medical educational quality is optimizing educational resources, not just enrolling high-scoring students.