Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 31, 1992                   TAG: 9203310304
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

MEDICAL SCHOOLS SEEK COMPASSION

But that view is changing, says Dr. Stephen Ayres, dean of the Medical College of Virginia, which graduates 168 doctors a year.

Ayres said one of the most important questions admissions counselors look at now is "what kind of human beings are they?"

That doesn't mean medical schools aren't scrutinizing scores on standardized tests or weighing academic achievement. They still count, but other "levels of qualities" are being taken into consideration, Ayres said.

"Our worry is if the grade point average isn't above a certain level, they won't be able to handle medical school," he said. "So we have some kind of minimum level. But we look for the late bloomers."

Ayres said admissions committees used to lean toward the biochemistry majors with 4.0 grade point averages because there was an enormous amount of scientific knowledge to be absorbed by the student through four years of medical school.

"Some of them are great doctors, and others should stay in the laboratory," he said.

Medical schools have found that bedside manner and communication skills are equally as important when dealing with patients.

"Science you can learn," Ayres said. "The values of human life and your attitudes toward your fellow human being are things that you don't learn in college."

Dick Green, spokesman for the Washington-based Association of American Medical Colleges, said the move to broaden the spectrum of medical school applicants is reflected in admissions tests.

The Medical College Admission Test was rewritten a year ago to place greater emphasis on interpretive skills and writing.

Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk graduates 100 doctors each year. Twenty percent of the class of 1995 is comprised of nonscience majors.

Initially, science courses may be tough for the nonscience types, said Dr. Robert McCombs, Eastern's dean of admissions. But they have an advantage in that they can converse better with their patients.

Cynthia Heldberg, director of admissions at MCV, said 20 percent of the class of 1995 is nonscience, including four religion majors, three foreign language majors, two philosophy majors and one journalism major.

"Not one person in that class was a physics major," she said.

She believes one of the reasons nonscience students pursue medicine is that "they've always wanted to be a doctor, but they wanted to do something else before they immerse themselves" in medicine.