2025 AAMC Graduation Questionnaire Highlights

Each year, students graduating from MD programs in schools of medicine in the United States are asked to complete a Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting organization for medical education programs, expects the results of the GQ in addition to other data gathered by the School of Medicine (SOM) to be available to the school to make data-based decisions and improvements.

For the class of 2025, 150 of 167 (89.8%) UM SOM graduates completed the survey. Additionally, 17,409 students responded to the survey nationally, and these results are reported in such a way that allows comparison between our school and other schools of medicine. The national response rate was 80.6%.  Overall, 91% of UM SOM students agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the overall quality of their medical education; compared with 92% of students nationally.

This article focuses on areas not directly related to the medical education curriculum; those areas will be discussed in the December 2025 issue. This article focuses on non-curriculum topics. Highlights represent students’ satisfaction (satisfied or very satisfied) or views about usefulness (moderately useful or very useful).

National comparisons can be informative, and UMMC was at least 10% higher than the national mean in multiple areas including:

• Specialty interest groups-sponsored panels and presentations: Learning about specialty choice and career planning (10.9%)
• Satisfaction with outcome after reporting mistreatment (12.2%)
• Participation in in-house and extramural electives: Learning about specialty choice and career planning (17.7%)
• Participation in educating students about health professions (17.0%)
• Participation in providing health education (cancer, HIV, etc.) (26.5%)
• Experience with a free clinic for the underserved population (26.7%)
• Participated in clinical training at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility (52.1%)

SOM administrators also examine areas for which UMMC’s mean is 10% or greater below the national mean. Some of those areas, excluding curriculum-related findings, include the following. Participation in learning another language in order to improve patient communication (-11.6%)

• Student health services (-12.6%)
• Participation in a field experience in home care (-14.3%)
• Student Support: Senior loan exit interview (-15.1%)
• Participation in a community based research project yes/no (-15.2%)
• Participation in an independent study project for credit (-16.8%)
• The accommodations I received. (-21.3%)

In addition to examining our data in relation to the national mean, we also examine it in relation to the previous year and the last five years. We saw increases from 2024 of 10% or more in the following non-curriculum related areas:

• Will have completed away rotations by graduation (18.4%)
• Careers in Medicine website: Learning about specialty choice and career planning (12.3%)
• Participation in in-house and extramural electives and specialty choice and career planning (13.6%)
• Knowing reporting procedures for reporting mistreatment (20.7%)
• Reported mistreatment behaviors to a designated faculty member/school administrator (25.2%)
• Satisfaction with outcome after reporting mistreatment (16.7%)

Findings from the GQ are shared with SOM administration and UMMC units responsible for the respective area. When improvements are needed, SOM administration works with those leaders to develop action plans and identify interventions. This annual process is a standard part of our continuous quality improvement.