In an effort to identify characteristics that relate to student dropout, 259 entering freshmen at a large community college were studied with personality, ability, and demographic measures, and it was hypothesized that a group of highly efficient predictor variables would become evident. Instruments used were the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI), the Adaptive-Flexibility Inventory, a 34-item demographic questionnaire, the Henmon-Nelson Tests of Mental Ability, and the Cooperative English Test: Reading Comprehension. Although none of the findings was of major significance, the authors felt that the differences found between dropouts and persisters in the (1) scores on the Complexity Scale of the OPI, (2) number of units attempted, (3) number of schools attended prior to the tenth grade, and (4) amount of mother's education corroborate other research in this area and suggest further investigation. It was also found that the higher an instructor tended to grade his students, the less students tended to drop his class, and that present English placement procedures tend to differentiate between cognitive and practical orientation. They conclude that measures of goal orientation and personality may be more appropriate instruments for placement and prediction than an English-usage test that does not yield as much information. (MC)