Junior baccalaureate nursing students: Factors that predict success

Abstract

Baccalaureate nursing education strives toward comprehensive preparation of diverse nursing students to meet current healthcare workforce demands. Identification of factors that predict academic success is imperative to meet this goal. The purpose of this study was to discover whether specific academic and noncognitive variables predicted baccalaureate nursing students’ academic success, as defined by junior-year grade point average (GPA) and persistence in nursing education. This post-facto correlational study was conducted over two semesters. Junior year nursing students (N = 150) answered the Short Grit Survey and the Noncognitive Questionnaire, and their academic records were examined for previous college grades (GPAs) and SAT scores. Demographic groups were compared using t-tests, and the data were regressed on junior-year student GPAs and persistence in the major to determine predictors of success. Several significant differences between the participant group responses were noted. Only early-college GPAs predicted junior-year success. SAT scores, grit and noncognitive factors, as well as demographic variables, did not predict academic success. These results inform baccalaureate education programs about priorities for admitting and advising students, and support the use of early-college GPAs to predict the academic success of junior-year baccalaureate nursing students.