Significant Factors for Predicting Academic Success of First-Year Pharmacy Students

Identifying the most important factors for predicting academic performance of pharmacy students is of considerable interest to pharmacy educators. The purpose of this study was to identify significant factors that predicted academic performance of first year pharmacy students at the University of Georgia. Objectives of the study included: (i) evaluating factors that were believed to predict first year pharmacy students’ academic performance; (ii) contrasting the value of the “new” Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) to the “old” PCAT in predicting academic performance; and (iii) determining the most important factors for predicting academic performance for male and female students for the 1992 and 1993 classes. All students who entered the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy during 1992 and 1993 were evaluated for the study. A total of 234 pharmacy student records were audited from the entering professional classes of 1992 and 1993. Forward stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed to correlate first year pharmacy students’ grade point average (GPA) with independent variables of each student’s age, PCAT scores, prepharmacy GPA, prepharmacy math/science GPA, and the achievement of a four-year college degree prior to entering pharmacy school. The most important factors for predicting the academic performance of first year pharmacy students were prepharmacy math/science GPA and the achievement of a four-year college degree prior to entering pharmacy school (P<0.01). Pre-Pharmacy math/science GPA was the most significant factor for both male and female students (P<0.01). Other significant factors that varied in the different populations included the PCAT Composite score, PCAT Verbal score, age, and prior four-year college degree (P<0.05). Significance and implications of the results for pharmacy admission procedures are discussed.