UX Research Case Study:
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Overview
Project: Medical Education Advisor Research
Client: Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
Researcher: Dayton D. Starnes II, Ph.D.
Research Method: 1:1 In-depth Interviews
Sample Size: n=26
Participant Segments: Medical Learner Advisors (4 segments)
- Pre-health
- Medical School Career
- Financial Aid
- Medical Specialty Advisors
- 50 Slide Final Report Deck
- 2 Journey Maps
Background & Research Objectives
AAMC sought to understand the challenges, workflows, and resource needs of academic advisors supporting medical education pathways. The goal was to identify gaps in tools, information, and training that could enhance advising effectiveness.
Specifically, the research aimed to:
- Understand how advisors approach their role and the broad scope of responsibilities.
- Document core advising processes, tools, and resources used.
- Identify gaps in support and prevalent challenges faced by advisors.
Synthesized Key Findings & Insights
1. Advisor Roles & Responsibilities
- Pre-health Advisors serve as guides, balancing structured programming with open-door mentoring. They rely on professional organizations for resources and support.
- Career Advisors facilitate student self-reflection, reality testing through experiential learning, and strategic planning for residency.
- Financial Aid Advisors play a dual role: traditional loan and compliance support, plus an increasing emphasis on financial wellness.
- Specialty Advisors assist students with specialty exploration, decision-making, and residency application strategy.
2. Core Advising Processes
Each advisor segment follows structured yet adaptable workflows:
- Prehealth Advisors support students from pre-orientation through alumni career transitions.
- Career Advisors guide students through M1-M4, residency applications, and match preparation.
- Financial Aid Advisors focus on financial literacy from pre-matriculation through residency financial planning.
- Specialty Advisors engage minimally in M1-M2 but provide intensive support in M4 for residency applications.
3. Identified Challenges & Gaps
- Resource Accessibility: Advisors struggle to locate AAMC data and tools efficiently.
- Equity in Preparation: The cost of MCAT prep, shadowing opportunities, and MSAR access disproportionately affects low-income students.
- Residency Program Data: Advisors lack comprehensive, transparent residency competitiveness and program fit information.
- Unverified Information: Advisors battle misinformation from sources like Reddit, which influences student decision-making.
- Career Diversification: Limited guidance exists for MDs exploring careers beyond clinical practice.
Opportunities & Recommendations
- Develop a tiered MCAT prep program (including free and low-cost resources) to improve accessibility.
- Enhance AAMC’s digital resources to align with advisor workflows and ease information retrieval.
- Expand residency program data transparency by developing "Typical Resident" profiles and competitiveness metrics.
- Create a centralized advisor toolkit with best practices, resource guides, and training on supporting diverse student populations.
- Formalize preclinical shadowing opportunities by collaborating with medical institutions to establish structured programs.
- Build career transition resources for students pursuing non-clinical pathways.
Impact & Next Steps
The research provided AAMC with actionable insights to better understand advisor resource needs and current student support systems as well as critical resource gaps. Future initiatives building on this research focused on co-designing solutions with advisors to ensure strategic development of necessarily support and to implement changes that foster measurable outcomes for learners and advisors.