A Comparative Study of Student Success between First-Time-In-College and First-Time-Transfer Engineering Students

作者：Yoon So Yoon^*; Cortez Monica; Imbrie P. K.; Reed Teri

来源：International Journal of Engineering Education, 2018, 34(1): 69-87.

• engineering students
• transfer students
• first-year engineering course
• graduation rates

This study is to explore characteristics of the first-time-in-college (FTIC) students and first-time-transfer (FTT) students and compare them in terms of their demographics, the first-year engineering (FYE) common course credits, and graduation outcomes. The 2006 cohort students' course credits and graduation status in engineering at a large southwest public university were tracked for 17 semesters through the data retrieved from the university archive. Descriptive statistics were used to identify trends in the data from 1,989 FTIC versus 282 FTT students and inferential statistics were applied to check statistically significant differences between two groups and among subgroups. Apparent differences existed between FTIC and FTT students: FTT students showed comparable cumulative GPAs to FTIC students and better graduation outcomes, such as higher six-year graduation rates and shorter time-to-graduation in engineering than FTIC students. Considering the same learning environment after entrance to the institution, the better academic outcomes of FTT students imply unique success factors other than the difference in academic maturity. Therefore, identification of these unique success factors and reconstruction of each student population support systems can facilitate the success of both FTIC and FTT students.

• 出版日期2018