The College Adjustment Scales (CAS) test and recent students' school performance upon entry into a medical school

Admission to a degree program represents a challenge for new students, which those that show greater emotional stability and ability to face school adjustment will best solve. The Draw a Person test and Anton and Reed's College Adjustment Scales (CAS) questionnaire was applied to 2364 first year students of a Medical School in northeastern México admitted during the years 2013 and 2014. One or more abnormal scales were documented in 674 students (28.4%). A correlation study between 1000 students with normal scales and the 674 students with abnormal scales was performed. The group with normal tests had a greater number of student approval (64% vs 46.9%) p = 0.03. A significant correlation was found with school failure in four of the CAS abnormalities: depression (p = 0.005), academic problems (p = 0.001) substance abuse (p = 0.004) and suicidal ideation (p = 0.043). We concluded that the evidence of depression, academic problems, substance abuse and suicidal ideation were associated statistically with low academic performance in the study population.