Although many undergraduates apply to graduate school, only a fraction will be admitted. A question arises as to what factors relate to the likelihood of pursuing graduate studies. The current research examined this question by surveying students in a Careers in Psychology course. We hypothesized that GPA, a more internal locus of control…

The available objective evidence suggests that the accuracy of predicting which students will succeed in a particular graduate school is often no better than modest, especially if such predictions are based only upon a test or a grade record. Taken together these two types of predictors do a reasonably good job, considering the restricted range of…

Presents results of a study to evaluate a model that indicates which factors are most important in predicting performance in engineering graduate programs. Variables tested include honors won, undergraduate grade point, full/part time student, age, marital status, children, undergraduate institution excellence, and two levels of work experience.…

Describes a class experiment illustrating students' illusions about their own mortality (often referred to as "unique invulnerability"). The students received information, culled from actuarial tables, concerning age and mortality rates. The students consistently overestimated their own age of death even when told they would do so. (MJP)