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Determinants of students' success at university

Author

Listed:
  • Danilowicz-Gösele, Kamila
  • Meya, Johannes
  • Schwager, Robert
  • Suntheim, Katharina

Abstract

This paper studies the determinants of academic success using a unique administrative data set of a German university. We show that high school grades are strongly associated with both graduation probabilities and final grades, whereas variables measuring social origin or income have only a smaller impact. Moreover, the link between high school performance and university success is shown to vary substantially across faculties. In some fields of study, the probability of graduating is rather low, while grades are quite good conditional on high school performance. In others, weaker students have a greater chance of graduating, but grades are more differentiated.

Suggested Citation

  • Danilowicz-Gösele, Kamila & Meya, Johannes & Schwager, Robert & Suntheim, Katharina, 2014. "Determinants of students' success at university," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 214, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cegedp:214
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elena Arias Ortiz & Catherine Dehon, 2008. "What are the Factors of Success at University? A Case Study in Belgium," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(2), pages 121-148.
    2. Elena Arias Ortiz, 2008. "What are the Factors of Success at University? A Case Study in Belgium," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 54(2), pages 121-148, June.
    3. Cyrenne, Philippe & Chan, Alan, 2012. "High school grades and university performance: A case study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 524-542.
    4. Elisa Rose Birch & Paul W. Miller, 2007. "The Influence Of Type Of High School Attended On University Performance," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 1-17, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Johannes Berens & Kerstin Schneider & Simon Görtz & Simon Oster & Julian Burghoff, 2018. "Early Detection of Students at Risk – Predicting Student Dropouts Using Administrative Student Data and Machine Learning Methods," CESifo Working Paper Series 7259, CESifo.
    2. Phipps, Aaron & Amaya, Alexander, 2023. "Are students time constrained? Course load, GPA, and failing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    3. Hoffmann, Anna-Lena & Lerche, Katharina, 2016. "Class attendance and university performance," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 286, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    4. Danilowicz-Gösele, Kamila, 2016. ""A" is the aim?," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 291, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    university; high school; grade point average; faculties; education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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