Predicting Engineering Major Status From Mathematics Achievement and Interest Congruence

Abstract

This study proposed that precollege students’ standardized mathematics achievement score and the congruence between their occupational interests and engineering tasks would predict their second-year retention in college and the stability of their major. Binary response models were used to predict second-year major status (i.e., continue, transfer major, or dropout). High mathematics achievement was predictive of retention on campus and within the engineering major. Interest congruence predicted likelihood of staying on campus. A trend was also detected ( p < .07) between the Mathematics Achievement · Interest Congruence interaction effect. These findings reinforce the importance of examining both achievement and interest congruence factors when understanding the retention of engineering majors. Future research needs to replicate and extend this model to other majors and institutions to more fully understand the major choice and college retention processes.

Prediction of College Major Persistence Based on Vocational Interests, Academic Preparation, and First-Year Academic Performance

“…Leuwerke et al (2004) found that academic preparation, as measured through the ACT Mathematics score, predicted whether entering engineering students persisted in their major. Their study did not assess the relations of high school GPA and first-year GPA on major persistence.…”

Patterns of Persistence in Intended College Major with a Focus on STEM Majors

“…A great deal of research on college major choice has been grounded in theories focused on either personality or person-environment fit (Allen & Robbins, 2008;Larson, Wei, Wu, Borgen, & Bailey, 2007;Leuwerke, Robbins, Sawyer, & Hovland, 2004;Porter & Umbach, 2006;Wessel, Ryan, & Oswald, 2008), previous academic performance (Allen & Robbins, 2008;Leuwerke et al, 2004;Trusty, 2002;Turner & Bowen, 1999;Wessel et al, 2008), self-efficacy (Larson et al, 2007;Lent, Sheu, Singley, Schmidt, Schmidt et al, 2008;Nauta & Epperson, 2003;Scott & Mallinckrodt, 2005), contextual factors related to the student's background (Malgwi et al, 2005;Turner & Bowen, 1999), or a combination of the aforementioned. This large body of literature makes clear that numerous factors affect college major choice; however, the relative influence of each factor tends to vary by study focus and design.…”

Event History Analysis for Investigating the Likelihood and Timing of Changing Majors

“…In contrast, past studies suggested that pre-college academic measures, such as high school GPA (Allen & Robbins, 2008;Crisp et al, 2009;King, 2015), SAT math score (Crisp et al, 2009), and ACT score (Allen & Robbins, 2008;Leuwerke et al, 2004), were significantly associated with major persistence.…”

“…The set of predictor variables used in the discrete-time hazard model, shown in Equation 1, was selected according to previous studies on college major persistence (Allen & Robbins, 2008), persistence in a STEM major (Crisp, Nora, & Taggart, 2009;King, 2015;Leuwerke, Robbins, Sawyer, & Hovland, 2004), and choice of college major (Pike, 2006;Porter & Umbach, 2006). Variables used in the model were chosen on the basis of restricted information available from the Office of Institutional Research.…”