Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Texas Alpha Chapter at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)

Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Selection Criteria (Class of 2025)
Texas Alpha Chapter at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)
Written May 18, 2003
Last Revised April 27, 2023

Reviewed by: Dr. Bernard Karnath (AΩA Faculty Sponsor, Councilor) Dr. Lindy Ross (AΩA Faculty Sponsor, Secretary/Treasurer) Members of the AΩA Selection Task Force
Our chapter must maintain the attributes of AΩA – academic achievement, research, education, leadership, humanism, professionalism, and service – throughout the election process. Student eligible to be nominated for AΩA include: Medical students who have demonstrated scholastic achievement, demonstrated professionalism, and have shown promise of becoming leaders in the profession. Senior AΩA Selection: The top 40% of the senior class (as determined by the UTMB School of Medicine pre-clerkship skills assessment and facilitator assessment scores and clerkship grades) will be made candidates for induction into AΩA in July of their senior year. Up to but not exceeding 20% of the graduating class will be selected from the top 40% of the graduating class.
Our AΩA chapter may elect up to 20% of a class for membership into AΩA. In Students must also fulfil the following requirements for candidacy to our AΩA chapter
medicine.

1. Passed the USMLE Step 1 exam on the first attempt
2. No PC/F or 2 or more PC’s total
3. Currently in Good Academic Standing
4. No confirmed academic or non-academic misconduct
5. No referral to the Academic Progress Committee for the professionalism issues

Candidates will be evaluated as follows on a scale of 0 to 5 for each of the 4 categories with 5 being the maximum score for each category:
1. Leadership – Examples: Class Officer, St. Vincent’s Clinic Director, President of Student Interest Group, Secretary Treasurer of Student Group, Leader of Osler Student Society, Curriculum Representative
2. Community Service – Examples: St. Vincent’s Clinic, St. Luke’s Society Clinic, Frontera de Salud, Osler Community Projects, UTMB Service Activities, Volunteer Community Services
3. Scholarly Activity – Examples: Research, Publications, Poster Presentations, Abstract Presentations, Vignette Competitions, Co-presentation of Grand Rounds and other Lectures
4. Mentorship – Examples: USMLE Step 1 Tutor, Tutor for Basic Science Courses (e.g. CVP, …), GAR Lab Facilitator, Student Ambassador, Mentoring 1st and 2nd year students at St. Vincent’s clinic, Student Panel Discussions
NOTE: The Selection Panel will consider quality, impact and time spent.

Clerkship Grades will be used as follows:
Honors = 5 points
High Pass = 3 points
Pass = 1 point

Noteworthy Accomplishments:
All candidates must submit 3 Noteworthy Accomplishments with instructions as follows:
Please highlight 3 noteworthy accomplishments. Noteworthy accomplishments can come from any section of Leadership, Community Service, Research or Scholarly Activity, or Mentorship. Please describe in narrative format (first person) the impact of your accomplishment / contribution in 150 words or less per noteworthy accomplishment. Please provide a header for each paragraph that denotes the theme of the paragraph. Noteworthy Accomplishments will be scored collectively on a scale of 0 to 5 depending on impact and contribution to medicine

Unique Characteristics:
In a separate section, limited to 150 words, please tell us something about yourself that may not be highlighted in your CV. Tell us something about you that you think is important for us to know that is not on your CV (e.g., unique challenge or non-academic accomplishment). Keep in mind AΩA’s motto of “be worthy to serve the suffering.”

MEMBERSHIP SELECTION PANEL VOTE: All AΩA chapter members and other selected faculty who submit scores will have an opportunity to vote for certification of candidates for induction into AΩA.

Timeline of Application Process:
Students who are made candidates for AΩA induction during their senior year should be notified in July of that year. They will be given a deadline by which they must turn in an application to the UTMB AΩA Chapter, which must include:
1. A signed Consent Form permitting the release of the candidate’s Rank UTMB CLERKSHIP GRADES to be released to the faculty members of Texas Alpha Chapter of AΩA.
2. Curriculum Vitae (CV) information should include Leadership, Community Service, Professional Membership, Honors and Awards, Scholarly Work, Research, and Mentorship (The information in the CV should include projects/activities carried out during medical school.
Items dated prior to medical school may be included if the work was continued during medical school)
3. Students who do not turn in their completed application materials by the specified deadline shall forfeit their candidacy for induction into AΩA.

Professionalism:
The Associate Dean for Student Affairs will review all eligible AΩA candidates prior to consideration. If the candidate has a record of a serious professionalism offense, the AΩA selection committee and/or the dean may remove the student from consideration.

Failure to Complete Third Year Courses:
Any AΩA candidates who have not completed and received a grade for all third-year courses by the AΩA application deadline in June will be evaluated based only on other criteria as listed above.

Conditional AOA Membership:
It is entirely possible that, in spite of uncompleted third year coursework, a student may have a strong enough application to still be inducted into AΩA. However, any AΩA membership that is offered to a student who has not completed their third-year coursework is considered a conditional membership until all such courses are completed with a grade of Pass or higher. If that student fails any of their third-year core curriculum courses, then they forfeit their conditional AΩA membership, and that membership will be transferred to another AΩA candidate who has the next best overall rank in the AΩA selection process.

Other Notes:
Any extraordinary circumstances that are not specifically addressed in these guidelines shall be evaluated by the AΩA faculty sponsors, who will determine an appropriate response in accordance with the spirit of these guidelines. This can also be highlighted in the Unique Characteristics section of the application.
These criteria for induction into AΩA are deliberately designed to favor students who demonstrate excellence in ALL the following areas:
1. Academic Excellence
2. Leadership
3. Volunteer Activities and Community Service
4. Honors and Awards
5. Professional Membership
6. Scholarship (e.g. Publications and Presentations)
7. Research Activities
8. Mentorship

AΩA – Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering. Pillars of the AΩA.

Appendix A

Each Section of the Application will be Scored on a Likert Scale of 0 to 5 with 5 being the maximum.
The committee will consider the quality and impact of the candidates work in CV and Supplement always keeping in mind AOA’s motto of “be worthy to serve the suffering.”
CV Score (maximum average score is 5.0)
• Leadership Score (5 points maximum)
• Community Service Score (5 points maximum)
• Scholarly Activity Score (5 points maximum)
• Mentorship Score (5 points maximum)

Clerkship Grades (maximum average score is 5.0)
• Clerkship Grades (H = 5 points, HP = 3 points, P = 1 point)
• Internal Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Ob-Gyn, Family Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology

Supplement (maximum average score is 5.0)
• Three Noteworthy Accomplishments Score (5 points maximum for each)
• One Unique Characteristics Score (5 points maximum)

Note: Each of the 3 sections above will count for 1/3rd of the overall candidate score.

Appendix B

The CV sections will be scored as follows (maximum average score is 5.0)

Leadership
0 Does not engage in leadership activities
1 Rarely engages in leadership activities
2 Occasionally engages in leadership activities
3 Moderate engagement in leadership activities
4 Active engagement in leadership activities
5 Exceptional engagement in leadership activities
Community Service
0 Does not engage in community service activities
1 Rarely engages in community service activities
2 Occasionally engages in community service activities
3 Moderate engagement in community service activities
4 Actively engages in community service activities
5 Exceptional engagement in community service activities
Scholarly Activities
0 Not at all engaged
1 Engaged to a very small extent
2 Engaged to a small extent
3 Engaged to a moderate extent
4 Engaged to a large extent
5 Engaged to a very large extent
Mentorship
0 Not at all engaged
1 Engaged to a very small extent
2 Engaged to a small extent
3 Engaged to a moderate extent
4 Engaged to a large extent
5 Engaged to a very large extent
Supplemental Material
Three Noteworthy Accomplishments (maximum average score is 5.0)
0 Poor
1 Fair
2 Good
3 Very Good
4 Excellent
5 Outstanding
One Unique Characteristic (maximum score is 5.0)
0 Poor
1 Fair
2 Good
3 Very Good
4 Excellent
5 Outstanding