SummaryScores on nineteen pre‐admission and post‐admission performance variables for four classes of medical students were analysed using canonical correlation and regression methods. Detailed interviews with 138 clinical preceptors were included among the criterion variables. National Board Part I scores could be predicted readily from conventional data such as Medical College Admission Test scores and grade point average. However, these same predictors generally correlated negatively with measures of clinical performance. Evidence supports pre‐admission interviews and careful analysis of letters of recommendation as useful predictors of the clinical performance vari