Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Rice University found that AP exams and personality traits can help predict a student's long-term college success.
Going to college is a big deal from many students as admission procedures can be very stringent. Owing to this, most students as well as college officials like to pre-determine whether a student would graduate from college or not. Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Rice University suggested, after a study, that including AP (Advance Placements) exams and an analysis of a student's personality traits along with traditional indicators of student abilities and high school grades during the college admission process can better help this prediction.
Researchers found that students who changed their college major from a field in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) gave different reasons for doing so. Women reasoned that they had a lower "self-concept" in math and science while men said they had lower levels of orientation toward "mastery and organization."
"There has been significant discussion in the domains of educational research and public policy about the difficulties in both attracting and retaining students in STEM majors," said Margaret Beier, associate professor of psychology at Rice and the study's co-author in a press release. "We're very interested to know how the role of personality traits and domain knowledge influences the selection and retention of talented students and accounts for gender differences in STEM and non-STEM majors in a selective undergraduate institution."
Researchers suggested that college officials should also take into account what the student "knows" rather than only their high school grades.
"Given that over half of the AP exams are completed prior to the students' senior year of high school, their actual exam scores could be part of the formal selection process and assist in identifying students most likely to graduate from college/university," Phillip Ackerman, a professor of psychology at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the study's lead author said.
