title: Prematriculation program grades as predictors of black and other nontraditional students' first-year academic performances.
abstract: This study explored the relative strengths of select background variables, including grades in a summer prematriculation program (SPP), as predictors of students' first-year academic performances. During the years 1980-1989, 115 black and other nontraditional prematriculants at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine attended a four-week SPP featuring courses in biochemistry, anatomy, and immunology. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that the combination of undergraduate grade-point average (GPA) and SPP grades in biochemistry and anatomy was the best predictor of the students' academic performances based upon their first-year grades in biochemistry, anatomy, and microbiology, and upon their GPAs for all first-year basic science courses. The authors conclude that SPP grades can be used to identify the specific academic weaknesses of nontraditional students at highest risk of falling into academic jeopardy.
authors.affiliation: Medical College, Georgia School of Medicine, Augusta 30912.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hesser
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000715:Anatomy / Q000193:education; D001671:Biochemistry / Q000193:education; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000592:standards*; D004522:Educational Status; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D008829:Microbiology / Q000193:education; D008913:Minority Groups; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests