Studies show that most students leave engineering within the first two years, making national retention rates in engineering less than 50%. Furthermore, the students who leave engineering are often academically talented, indicating a need to examine other success measures beyond GPA such as non-cognitive and affective (NCA) factors. Using data from a single institution (n = 540), we explore the NCA differences between students who remained in engineering after their first year and those who are no longer enrolled in engineering, or even in college at all. Results show that only one demographic and five NCA measures are statistically significant predictors of continued enrollment. Overall, a better understanding of student success as measured by retention using NCA profiles might assist researchers and practitioners with developing interventions and supportive environments that promote students' academic success and thriving in engineering.

Links to work surrounding the paper:

Validity Evidence for the SUCCESS Survey: Measuring Noncognitive and Affective Traits of Engineering and Computing Students (Part II)

Validity Evidence for the SUCCESS Survey: Measuring Non-Cognitive and Affective Traits of Engineering and Computing Students

Teaching Undergraduate Engineering Students Gratitude, Meaning, and Mindfulness

Matthew Scheidt, Justin C Major, Julianna Ge and Allison Godwin (Purdue University, USA); John Chen, Brian Self and James Widmann (California Polytechnic State University, USA); Edward Berger (Purdue University, USA)

10.18.19: 10:30-Noon, Room 10

Keywords – first-year engineering, retention