A study published by a University ecomonics professor found that males are more likely than females to drop out of college after being placed on academic probation.
Jason Lindo, the researcher behind the study, found that in particular, male college students who did well in high school had the hardest time being placed on academic probation. The study also found that college students who get back on their feet after being placed on academic probation are more likely to succeed throughout college and graduate. The study used data collected from 1996 to 2005 by a three-campus Canadian university.
The research studied 12,530 first-year students with GPAs just above or just below the point that triggers academic probation and watched the students proceed with their education or drop out.
Lindo thinks it’s interesting to see how male and female students who excelled in high school reacted to being placed on academic probation in college.
“While I can only speculate as to why, it suggests that those who are most accustomed to success are most sensitive to negative feedback,” Lindo said.
A University student who requested anonymity for privacy said he was a straight-A student in high school, but the reality of college hit him hard his freshman year.
“It’s a blow to your self-esteem,” he said. “It’s an indescribable feeling because you know it’s your fault and you’re disappointed (in yourself).”
Although he declined to say how he got onto academic probation, the student said he is now in good academic standing after working hard for several terms.
Lindo is also surprised by the lack of research on how students feel about being placed on academic probation, and he said past research on academic probation compared students not on probation to students who were.
“I thought it was crazy that nearly all post-secondary institutions have academic probation policies yet we knew pretty much nothing about how they affect student outcomes,” Lindo said. “I was most surprised that the impact on drop-out rates are greatest among students with the best high school grades. Going in, I would have expected the opposite to be the case.”
Jennifer Joslin, University director of academic advising, said Lindo’s research is extremely important for advisors to consider. She said there are more male University students on academic warning, academic probation and academic disqualification, which is in line with Lindo’s research. What fascinated Joslin, though, was the amount of qualitative, or reaction, research in the study.
“We see students on academic probation (and) it either motivates or discourages them,” Joslin said. “The data does match.”
Lindo believes that while the data were collected from a Canadian university, the findings are still applicable to American universities because academic probation policies are usually the same from university to university. He would be interested in conducting a research like the Canadian one on an American university.
“It’s not that hard to conduct the analysis,” Lindo said. “The hardest part is getting administrators on board in order to get the data.”
Joslin knows students can be discouraged by being placed on academic probation, but he also sees how students can bounce back.
“We hear students all the time who were smart in high school and who never had to put in the time to study (before college),” Joslin said. “Their success was based on being sharp, but they didn’t bring good studying strategies to college. (However), there are reasons for resilience.”
Joslin said successful students who recover from academic probation visit their instructor’s office hours after exams, learn how to read their degree audit and understand how they’re doing in classes.
“It’s about turning everything around at an everyday level,” Joslin said.
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