Students' lecture attendance, course grades, class rank at the end of the first year of medical school, and scores on the NBME Part I examinations were correlated. The data suggest that a significant number of students who did not attend lectures did well academically. (MLW)

In reaction to the "Hopwood v. Texas" decision, which declared the use of race in college admissions illegal, Texas created a percentage plan that guaranteed admission to students who graduate within a specified percentile of their high school class. Under the Texas plan, any student graduating in the top 10% of his or her high school…

A study of 410 University of Texas (Houston) dental school graduates taking the Texas State Dental Board Examination immediately after graduation did not identify any characteristics strongly predicting success or failure, although there was a weak but insignificant relationship between class rank and passing. However, the fact that most test…

Reports study of 288 graduate psychology majors to determine what variables correlated with grade point averages in psychology. Reports three clusters of significant variables: (1) high school grades in verbal areas; (2) achievement in college general studies courses; and (3) mathematics aptitude and achievement in college. (CFR)

In this article, the authors test a "frog-pond" model of elite college admission proposed by Attewell, operationalizing high school academic context as the secondary school-average SAT score and number of Advanced Placement tests per high school senior. Data on more than 45,000 applications to three elite universities show that a high…

This study compared the effectiveness of several existing and proposed methods for statistically adjusting college grade point averages (GPAs) for course and departmental differences in grading standards, using first-semester grades from an entire entering class at a large state university (4,351 students), in 1988. Most of the adjusted GPAs…

The study explored the qualifications of learning-disabled college students by examining the academic performance (first year grade point average--GPA) of 179 learning-disabled and 249 nonlearning-disabled students classified by two objective admission criteria--either Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or high-school class rank. Overall, the scores…

This article is a response to Wainer's comments on a research study representing the first major analysis of factors linked to state differences in Scholastic Aptitude Test performance. (JAZ)

A 1997 Texas law requires universities to admit the top 10% percent of seniors from each Texas high school, opening a door for many Hispanic and Black seniors in schools with high minority populations. Observers are concerned some students may be underprepared for university work. Elite public universities around the country are watching to see if…

A study examined whether there is a relationship between students' reading grades and the amount of time they spend watching television. Subjects, seventh grade students from three classes (and four reading levels) of a public elementary school in Jersey City were given 84 charts to record their viewing habits for each of the three weeks of the…

Six widely used college admissions variables and four course-specific measures (tests of entering mathematical skills and physics knowledge, and indexes of previous study of mathematics and physics) were correlated with final marks for 495 students in an introductory college physics course. The college admissions variables included scores on…

A study at the Licenciate in Medicine in Spain showed the best predictors of first-year medical school grades to be science course grades, the overall admission test score, and the test score average. Implications for admissions and counseling are discussed. (Author/MSE)

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of high school students to calculate the actual improvement in freshman grade point average, college completion, and total years of schooling from colleges' use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Crouse compares predictions based on high school rank to argue that the SAT's costs do not justify…

Validity coefficients of the Descriptive Tests of Language Skills, the Academic Tests of the ACT Assessment Program (ACT), and high school percentile rank were calculated with cumulative grade point average (CGPA) at end of each of four years of college for 496 students entering through a special admissions program. The most valid predictor of…