We examined the ability of four career and personality assessment inventories to predict students’ first-year college performance and persistence. Among our sample of 677 college freshmen who enrolled in a freshman orientation course, subscales from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, and Social Skills Inventory uniquely predicted first-year college GPA, and subscales from these three instruments and the Career Factors Inventory uniquely contributed to the prediction of freshman-to-sophomore persistence, each after controlling for ACT/SAT scores. Our findings suggest that college counseling and career center staff may provide valuable retention-promotion efforts by helping to identify students at risk for poor academic performance or attrition on the basis of commonly used career and personality assessment inventories.
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