Early College Performance, Gender, and Other Factors Influencing Continuation in STEM Fields

• Activity Number: 302
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Ian Mouzon*+ and Ulrike Genschel and Alicia Carriquiry and Xuan Hien Nguyen and Andrea Kaplan and Elgin Johnston and Wolfgang Kliemann and Kenneth Koehler
• Companies: Iowa State University of Science and Technology and Iowa State University and Iowa State University and Iowa State University of Science and Technology and Iowa State University and Iowa State University and Iowa State University of Science and Technology and Iowa State University of Science and Technology
• Keywords: STEM ; Gender ; Survival

Abstract

A student's first few semesters in college are critical in determining their academic future. This is especially true in the STEM disciplines, where poor performance in mathematics and statistics courses can lead students to choose majors outside of the STEM fields or leave college entirely (Adelman, 1999, 2006). In addition to academic performance, other factors can also influence a student's decision to pursue STEM fields. Applying survival analysis tools to the academic history of students at Iowa State University, we have found statistically significant differences between male and female students in terms of persistence in STEM fields. These differences remain when academic performance is taken into account, indicating that academically successful female students are more likely to stop pursuing degrees in STEM fields than even less academically successful male students.