title: Pre-admission factors and utilization of tutoring services in health professions educational programs.
abstract: Pre-admission factors tend to serve as indicators of student success in health professions educational programs, but less is known about the effects that academic assistance programs have on student success. This study sought to determine whether specific pre-admission factors could help to identify students who may require academic support during their health professions education. This retrospective analysis aimed to identify differences in pre-admission variables between those students requiring tutoring and a matched sample of students who did not require tutoring. One-way ANOVA was used to assess differences for dependent variables-age, cumulative GPA (cGPA), science GPA (sGPA), verbal graduate record examination (GRE) score, quantitative GRE score, analytical GRE score and combined GRE score, community college hours, average credit hours per semester, and highest semester credit hour load-across three groups of students who received no tutoring (NT 0 hrs), some tutoring (ST <8 hrs), and more tutoring (MT >8 hrs). Total GRE and average semester hours differentiated NT from ST from MT (p<0.05). A linear regression model with these pre-admission factors found only four of the independent variables to be significant (r2=0.41; p<0.05) in predicting hours of tutoring: quantitative GRE, sGPA, cGPA and average semester hours taken. The combination of lower GRE scores and lighter average semester course load were most predictive of the need for academic assistance as defined by hours of tutoring. While the value of the GRE in admissions processes is generally accepted, the average semester hour load in college can also provide important information regarding academic preparation and the need for tutoring services.
authors.affiliation: Tarrant County College Trinity River Campus, 300 Trinity Campus Circle, Fort Worth, TX 76102, USA. mayra.olivaresurueta@tccd.edu
authors.forename: Mayra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olivares-Urueta
authors.forename: Jon W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Williamson
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003099:College Admission Test; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D012576:Schools, Health Occupations; D055815:Young Adult