Relationship of Time of Registration and Academic Achievement of University Freshmen

Abstract

The mission of colleges has changed from education of the elite t o education of the masses. With the rise of open admissions policies, higher education has increased its concern about high-risk students. Identifying variables affecting academic success of students can result in efforts to improve their status.Studies of achievement of college students as well as descriptions of programs to aid them are numerous. Particularly in the past decade many publications have appeared dealing with entrance requirements, registration procedures, and orientation/advising programs. Jackson studied characteristics of early and late applicants t o a community college and found that early applicants achieved significantly higher ACT scores and grade point averages (GPA).' Limited research has been conducted, however, on effects of preregistration time on students' academic functioning. Increased knowledge about students' time of preregistration and future academic success can help identify correlates of success, identify factors indicating a student's need for adjusted preplanning, and assist the university in preparing more effective programs of orientation and academic advising.Summer preregistration for incoming freshmen is wide-spread among American colleges and universities. While methods and programs vary considerably, their use as one means of improving and accelerating the transition from high school t o college is well documented by the following researchers: Jesseph, Leonard and Rothman, Gibbs, Osipow, and Donnan and Griffin. ' The University of North Dakota maintains a model of writing approximately forty students per day for a seven-week period to the U-niversity for detailed academic ad-GEORGE W. SCHUBERT serves as dean of University College and Summer Sessions at the University of North Dakota; NANCY C. MOREDOCK serves as a counselor at the Northwestern Mental Health Center in Crookston, Minnesota. 24January 198 1 Relationship of Time of Preregistrationvising, brief orientation, and preregistration for the fall semester. We believed that a relationship existed among types of students and times students preregistered. This study explores the relationship between ACT scores, sex, approximate high school class size, first semester GPA, and time of registration/orientation. METHOD SampleFrom University College records we identified recent high school graduates participating in the University of North Dakota's summer preregistration program for incoming freshmen and completing at least twelve hours of graded work for fall semester. The sampling procedure operated as follows: we chose randomly from each of the seven weeks of preregistration and selected randomly ten males and ten females from each of the preselected days. The total sample consisted of 140 persons with equal distribution by sex. Subject age range was approximately 18 years. ProcedureThe names, sex, and ACT scores of randomly selected subjects we collected from existing lists prepared by University College. Fall semester GPA's and high school class si...

Early Journal Articles and Editors That Shaped the Evolution of Scholarly Writing in Academic Advising, 1972-2001

“…The first article based on original research published in the NACADA Journal was Schubert and Moredock's (1981) ''Relationship of Time of Registration and Academic Achievement of University Freshmen.'' However, the remaining research-based submissions in the 1980s better fit McLaughlin et al's (1982) description of research as ''surveys,'' and ''studies focus[ing] on the relationship of programs and techniques to various student outcomes' ' (p. 15).…”