Assessment of the impact of freshman engineering course

Journal of Engineering Education, Oct 1998 by Budny, Dan, LeBold, William, Bjedov, Goranka

VII. A COUNSELING DILEMMA

Table 3 indicates that the best way to promote success is for the student to achieve at least a 2.0 GPA for the first semester. It is our position that the first semester GPA is such a good predictor of retention because it is a combined, semester long evaluation from six to ten independent sources including professors, teaching assistants and lab instructors.

Typically freshmen enroll in mathematics, chemistry, computer programming, and English courses in the first semester. We believe that this combination of courses is a more important indicator than any single course. For example, the time commitment to write a computer program or English paper may reduce the available time for studying math or chemistry. This time management problem may ultimately result in the individual earning a GPA lower than his or her admissions data would predict.

Thus, the GPA reveals more than the student's ability in the core courses and is a very valuable piece of information for advising. The problem is, we do not know what the final GPA will be at the beginning of the semester. So what classes do we advise the student to take?

Instead of attempting to determine the entire first semester course load, we isolate one course, the first semester mathematics class. At Purdue University the average student has three options: 1) enroll in a pre-calculus course (MA151), 2) enroll in the standard first semester calculus course (MA161), or 3) take an advanced placement exam to pass out of MA161 and enroll in one of the second semester calculus courses (e.g., MA173).

VIII. REI:oN AND MATHEMATICS

Table 3 shows that the higher the first semester GPA, the higher the student retention. Since the mathematics courses are all five credits and the typical student enrolls for 15 credits, it would seem logical that the first semester mathematics grade should also correlate with retention. Table 4 lists the average sixth semester retention rates as a percentage for the years 1981 through 1993, versus the grades obtained in one of the three first semester mathematics courses.

The data in table 4 shows a pattern of a one-grade difference between the three courses. That is, students who earn an A in MA151 have approximately the same retention rate as students who earn a B in MA161 or a C in MA173; students who earn a B in MA151 have approximately the same retention rate as students who earn a C in MA161, etc. Hence, we believe that the first semester math grade can be used as an important predictor of success in engineering. (Note, the D and F data for MA173 are less reliable predictors because of the very limited number of students in these classifications.)

Further, table 4 shows that students who earn a grade of C in MA161 or B in MA151 have a university retention rate approximately equal to or greater than the 78% university graduation rate listed in figure 1. Students earning a grade of C in MA173, B in MA161 or A in MA151 have engineering retention rates approximately equal to or greater than the 57% engineering graduation rate given in figure 1. Thus, from a counseling point of view, the strategy is to place the student in an appropriate mathematics course so that he/she will be able to achieve one of these acceptable grades.