A CADEMIC M EDICINE , V OL . 77, N O . 7/J ULY 2002 737  ADMISSIONS AND PREMEDICAL PROGRAMS Educational Assessment Center Techniques for Entrance Selection in Medical School OLLE TEN CATE,PHD, AND KO SMAL,PHD, UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER UTRECHT,SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE,THE NETHERLANDS Objective: Dutch higher education is freely accessible for those who have proper high school qualifications. However, admission to medical schools has been limited by govern- ment to regulate manpower planning. Selection has been carried out by a national lottery approach since 1972, but in 2000, the Dutch government asked medical schools to experiment with qualitative selection procedures at their own institutions. The University Medical Center Utrecht School of Medical Sciences has used a technique derived from assessment-center approaches to assist in the medical school admission process. Dutch assessment centers use ob- servation procedures in which candidates act in simulated activities that are characteristic of the vacant position. Description: In April 2001, 61 candidates for 23 places were invited for selection days. After a selection interview, can- didates were asked to perform activities that are character- istic of course requirements: (1) studying a three-to-five page text about diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of disease A during one hour; (2) explaining the studied procedures to another candidate and receiving information about disease B, studied by this other candidate, during one hour; (3) an- swering the questions of a standardized patient about disease A in 15 minutes; and (4) answering the questions of a stan- dardized patient about disease B in 15 minutes. A three- person selection committee behind a one-way screen ob- served the two 15-minute interviews with the standardized patients. The selection committee independently scored content quality of the information that was given to the standardized patients as well as the quality of attitude to- wards and communication with both patients. The average scores for these three criteria were weighted equally to arrive at a total score. In addition, each candidate received a score resulting from the interview with the other candidate who explained disease B. This score was combined with the other three to a final score. Discussion: The Utrecht medical curriculum may be viewed as a hybrid PBL program. Integration of basic and clinical sciences, patient contacts from the start, training of skills in communication with standardized patients, physical exami- nation, extensive small-group teaching, structured indepen- dent studying, and collaboration to prepare for short pre- sentations to peers were all characteristic of the medical school curriculum. Thus, the assessment-center technique reflected the characteristics of the medical school curricu- lum. First analyses showed satisfactory reliabilities of the three scores (0.79 to 0.92); the average agreement between raters was 0.60. Correlation analysis between scores sup- ported the internal convergent and discriminant validity of the assessment activities. The predictive validity remains to be studied. Inquiries: Olle ten Cate, PhD, Professor, University Medical Center Utrecht, School of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 85060, 3508 AB Utrecht, The Netherlands; e-mail: t.j. tencate@med.uu.nl.  Health Science Learning Academy: A Successful ‘‘Pipeline’’ Educational Program for High School Students RUTH-MARIE E. FINCHER, MD, WILMA SYKES-BROWN, MA, AND ROSIE ALLEN-NOBLE,EDD, MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Objective: The objective of the Health Professions Partner- ship Initiative is to increase the number of underrepresented minority Georgia residents who become health care profes- sionals by (1) creating a pipeline of well-qualified high school and college students interested in health care careers, (2) increasing the number of well-qualified applicants to medical and other health professions schools, and (3) in- creasing the number of underrepresented minority students at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). Description: The Health Professions Partnership Initiative at MCG was created in 1996 by collaboration among the MCG Schools of Medicine and Nursing, two Augusta high schools attended primarily by underrepresented minority stu- dents, three historically black colleges and universities, the Fort Discovery National Science Center of Augusta, com- munity service organizations, and MCG student organiza- tions. The project was funded by the Association of Amer- ican Medical Colleges and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The high school component, the Health Sci- ence Learning Academy (HSLA), was designed to strengthen the students’ educational backgrounds and inter- est in professional careers as evidenced by increased stan-