Controlling for other variables, study abroad students graduate with more units of credit
New data from the CASSIE (The Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education) project explores the impacts of study abroad on student academic success. The CASSIE project report, released in spring 2022, studies metrics for student success for more than 30,000 students across 36 U.S. universities of various profiles. Controlling for numerous academic and demographic factors to tease apart correlation from causality, the project aims to identify how study abroad impacts student success.
Summarized findings
Last week, we highlighted improved academic success was the rate at which students graduate in 4 years and also at 6 years. Another measure of enhanced academic success was improved student GPA at the time of graduation. Based on UC Merced's enrollment profile, the predicted bump in GPAs is projected to be 0.10-0.11 (e.g. instead of a 3.68 GPA at graduation, the study abroad grad achieves a 3.78-3.79 GPA). This holds true across a number of student groups, but the impact is magnified for students who might fall into the following categories:
- Need-based financial aid recipients
- Underrepresented minority groups*
- First-generation college students
- STEM and non-STEM students alike, but greater gains for non-STEM students
Why it matters
Achieveing a higher GPA has several positive impacts:
- It can help you earn academic honors,
- It can get you into a more highly ranked or competitive graduate or professional school,
- It can make the difference in landing certain internships or jobs if you have less professional experience, and
- It can make you eligible for certain scholarships and fellowships.
But the CASSIE project measured student success using other metrics. We'll continue to look at what other CASSIE findings suggest.
* Underrepresented minority groups, as defined by the CASSIE project includes the following:
- American Indian/Alaskan Native,
- Black or African American,
- Hispanic, and
- Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
