Predictors of academic success for conditionally admitted first-time freshmen at a four-year public university

Abstract

This quantitative study examined a sample of 249 conditionally admitted firsttime freshman at a four year public university to answer four research questions pertaining to the potential prediction of academic success and college retention for conditional admits. The single-stage, convenience sample (Creswell, 2003) included variables related to student demographic, academic admission, first year academic success, and college admission factors were included in the study. The findings of the study revealed that an emphasis on core curriculum classes taken during high school, especially the senior year, and the core curriculum coursework GPA should be emphasized by policymakers as determinants for admission exceptions. The results also highlighted the ACT English sub score for the full sample, and the high school GPA for the male sub group, as significant predictors of academic success and college retention. Other factors analyzed in the study, including the type of high school, whether a student earned college credit prior to college, whether a student participated in high school athletics, whether a student was an athlete at the college of study, ethnicity and race, whether the student received application for admission fee waiver, and the type of conditional admit, did not qualify as significant predictors in the final statistical model.