VITA measuring social skills? Is this real?

[Batman55]

I have been reading about VITA, and I just can't wrap my head around how recording yourself answering questions without human contact can somehow measure " Social Skills ". I thought that social skills by definition should be measured in a social setting while interacting with other human beings. Sure, there are some people who speak more elegantly than other people ( difficult to objectively measure in video recording still ), but I think that lack of actual human interaction in these types of recordings are really counter productive. Plus, it seems like it would push things to be even more robotic.

Talking about having social skills and actually demonstrating it in an interview seems very different to me. Also, every person's demeanor and charisma is different, and it seems shortsighted to try to standardize everything. This all reminds me of " Harrison Bergeron " a short story written by kurt vonnegut.

But hey maybe I am overthinking and I am judging too harshly, So I would love some other opinions about this whole thing to expand my perspective on this.

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[Lifeblood_20]

My guess is medical schools won't even really know what to do with this information themselves. Interviews are pretty subjective anyway, and I doubt schools are going to prioritize AAMC's standards over their own.

 

[Batman55]

My guess is medical schools won't even really know what to do with this information themselves. Interviews are pretty subjective anyway, and I doubt schools are going to prioritize AAMC's standards over their own.

Yeah, I mean almost everything is subjective to some extent. For instance, amount of poverty in your zip code is a strong predictor of standardized exam score. I digress, but I just can't help to feel that this is just totally useless and is designed to milk applicants for money eventually.

 

[Rachapkis]

About 40 years ago, I read a Vonnegut story about a dystopian society that brought everyone down to the lowest common denominator to promote equality. If you were smart, you would be required to wear a radio to disrupt your thought processes; if you were graceful, you would be fitted with weights to impede your movements, etc. Is that the story? If so, it's an apt analogy.

 

[Batman55]

About 40 years ago, I read a Vonnegut story about a dystopian society that brought everyone down to the lowest common denominator to promote equality. If you were smart, you would be required to wear a radio to disrupt your thought processes; if you were graceful, you would be fitted with weights to impede your movements, etc. Is that the story? If so, it's an apt analogy.

That's the one! Fantastic memory, I wasn't even alive 40 years ago. Wouldn't want to sidetrack the discussion, but please let me know, if there are other books you recommend in general!

 

[readmypostsMD]

Yeah, I mean almost everything is subjective to some extent. For instance, amount of poverty in your zip code is a strong predictor of standardized exam score. I digress, but I just can't help to feel that this is just totally useless and is designed to milk applicants for money eventually.

i feel like zip code determining in part sat scores makes sense?

 

[Batman55]

i feel like zip code determining in part sat scores makes sense?

Yeah, there is good research about it , they basically can predict your max performance on Sat based on your zip code. I doubt that any other standardized exam is much different, though there are always gonna be outliers. Let's forget about tutors and not having to worry about money while studying for a test.... you still can't compare someone going to an uncaring public school to the person attending one of the best private/public school for 12 years of their lives. This whole thing is another discussion though.
My main point was that just because someone talks about doing something well e.g social skills, that doesn't mean you can measure it effectively. For instance, I can learn in theory how to perform a complex athletic movement ( Like back handspring in gymnastics.. ), but my knowledge is not going to necessarily translate to actually performing that movement correctly.

edit: grammar.