What Matters in College for Retaining Aspiring Scientists and Engineers from Underrepresented Racial Groups

  1. African American and Latino students were less likely to persist in STEM majors in comparison to White and Asian students.
  2. The effect of racial classification on 4-year STEM persistence, controlling for high school preparation, experience, and demographic characteristics, was not statistically significant.
  3. After taking college experiences into account, the race variables did not exhibit a significant effect on STEM persistence.
  4. Among the high school academic preparation predictors, only SAT scores were significantly associated with STEM persistence for URM students.
  5. Percent of study body that are URM had no significant effect on URM persistence in STEM in college.
  6. Percent of students receiving federal aid had no significant effect on URM persistence in STEM in college.
  7. Findings from the follow-up analysis of the sample of URMs suggest that institutions can improve URM STEM persistence by increasing the likelihood that those students will engage in key academic experiences: studying frequently with others, participating in undergraduate research, and involvement in academic clubs or organizations.
  8. Pre-college factors may explain some of the observed racial disparities and that individual institutions can take more concrete actions to improve science achievement.
  9. Pre-college factors are important in explaining racial disparities in science achievement.