The use of selective admissions tools to predict students’ success in an advanced standing baccalaureate nursing program

SummaryThe judicious selection of nursing school applicants is important, and universities are increasingly incorporating non-academic criteria into their admission processes. We undertook a retrospective, correlational study of the predictive utility of an admissions process for nursing students’ “in-program” success. The sample consisted of all 249 students admitted to a Canadian accelerated baccalaureate nursing program over a four-year study period. The students’ arithmetic mean grade for six nursing courses (both theoretical and clinical) and their final grade point average (GPA) at graduation were the outcome measures of student success. The predictor variables included the applicants’ demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, ethnic minority status, and previous educational attainment), their supplemental application materials and interview scores (assessing non-academic criteria), and their admission GPA. Linear regression was conducted on the outcome measures to determine whether the selection tools added information over that obtained through the use of admission GPA in predicting success. Although their admission GPAs were consistently predictive of the students’ success, neither the supplemental application nor the interview scores had predictive utility. The variables consistently predictive of student success were age, ethnic minority status, and admission GPA, accounting for 26% of the variance in the selected nursing grades and 36% of the variance in GPA at graduation. The results provided little evidence to justify using the selective admissions tools.