Frequently Asked Questions

Students

I am a fourth-year medical student trying to access the GQ. How do I log in?

Your school will provide you with a school specific login token that will grant you access to the GQ, Program Evaluation Survey. This token will only identify the medical school from which they are scheduled to graduate.

You will be required to use your AAMC ID Number to login to the Student Survey on Priorities in Medical Education Indebtedness, Career Aspirations, and Diversity.

How do I know my answers are confidential?

Student responses are stored in a database at the AAMC. Your responses to the Program Evaluation Survey are anonymous, and therefore confidential. Your responses to the Student Survey on Priorities in Medical Education Indebtedness, Career Aspirations, and Diversity. are identified, but only released back to the schools with your express consent. The AAMC does not release any personally identified data to outside organizations. Both surveys have been reviewed by the American Institutes for Research IRB to ensure that necessary safeguards for human subjects are present and will continue to exist.

Schools

When will the GQ open for students' responses?

The 2008 GQ opened January 16, 2008. The GQ will be available to students until mid-July 2008.

How can students log in to the GQ?

Part 1: GQ Program Evaluation Survey: Students can log in to the GQ Program Evaluation Survey at www.aamc.org/gq and click on "Program Evaluation Survey", using their school token. The school token has been provided to school administrators for dissemination to their students. Students and/or administrators may also contact the AAMC to obtain the school token. (E-mail: GQ@aamc.org)

Part 2: GQ Student Survey on Priorities in Medical Education: Indebtedness, Career Aspirations, and Diversity: Students can log in to the GQ Student Survey on Priorities in Medical Education: Indebtedness, Career Aspirations, and Diversity at www.aamc.org/gq and click on "GQ Student Survey on Priorities in Medical Education...", using their AAMC ID number. They can exit and re-enter this survey using their AAMC ID number. A "look up" feature is provided for students who cannot recall their AAMC ID number.

Upon completion of Part 1, students are taken directly to the second part of the survey.

How can school administrators track their students' progress and completion?

School administrators can log in to the GQ Tools Web site at https://services.aamc.org/gqtools by using their AAMC login.

GQ school administrators can also use this site to monitor the progress of their students as they complete the GQ. Response summaries are provided for both GQ surveys.

For the 2008 GQ, a student list will be created for the Program Evaluation Survey. Due to the IRB requirement that survey responses be anonymous, this list is created solely from a prompt following the completion of the survey that gives students the option to assist their school in tracking its student response rates.

If a student chooses to provide his or her name, it will appear on the Program Evaluation Survey student response list. The students' responses to the survey cannot and will not be linked to their names. This was a feature added to the 2006 survey based on feedback received from the school administrators.

From the GQ Student Survey on Priorities in medical education: Indebtedness, Career Aspirations, Diversity tab on the GQ Tools Web site, a more detailed list of students' progress and completion is provided for the identifiable Student Survey on Priorities in medical education: Indebtedness, Career Aspirations, Diversity . From the reports tab on the GQ Tools Web site, school administrators may also view archived school-specific reports from previous years' GQ administrations. In the fall of each calendar year, final school reports will be available at this site.

Are students required to complete the GQ?

If a school has existing academic policies that require students to complete program evaluation materials in order to proceed to graduation, then the school may require its students to attempt to complete the GQ Program Evaluation Survey.

How can my school improve its response and completion rate for the GQ?

We encourage school administrators and their colleagues to make a critical contribution to the success of the GQ by personally making students aware of the importance of the GQ. In addition to a message directly from the dean or dean's office, the following are some specific actions that schools might undertake:

• Include the GQ as a primary activity to be completed on "checklists" provided to students prior to the beginning of the 4th year and/or the Match.

• Seek out the endorsement of school-based student groups to encourage students to complete both sections of the GQ.

• Regularly monitor and provide feedback to students regarding their completion status during the survey period.

• Reinforce to students the importance of their responses to the GQ during financial aid exit interviews and during other regular contacts with students.

• Establish completion of the GQ as an essential component of the students' commitment to professionalism.

How can my organization or group submit questions or suggested changes to the GQ?

Please see The Process for Changing and/or Adding Questions to the GQ (Word, 4 pages), created in collaboration with the AAMC's Group on Student Affairs Committee

For more information on the GQ, please e-mail us at GQ@aamc.org.