Method IntroductionResults Discussion Effects of Plans and Workloads on Academic Performance Mark C. Schroeder University of Nebraska – Lincoln College academic achievement is critical for living and functioning well within society. A quality education achieved through college academic success creates more opportunities in life, increases adult cognition, confidence, and tolerance (Berger, 2001). The present study questions the influence of gender, average credit hours taken, and plans following college as they relate to GPA and study hours for the purpose of making changes to increase academic achievement in all students. Research Hypotheses and Previous Research 1.) Women will report higher GPA than men. Women tend to study more often, receive better grades, and graduate sooner (Zelaya, 2005). While looking at gender differences, women reported greater GPA than men (Chee, Pino, Smith & William, 2005). 2.) Women who take a high level of credits each semester will have lower GPA than those who take a low level of credits each semester. Academic achievement in women was suggested to have benefited from a female tendency to focus on social capital while for men it benefited from a male tendency to focus on individual achievement (Chee, Pino, Smith & William, 2005). No relation was found between GPA and workload sizes (Henke, Lyons, & Krachenberg, 1987). 3.) Women planning to work after college will have lower GPA than those planning to attend a graduate or professional school. As graduation approached men’s GPA increased while women’s GPA remained unaffected (Chee, Pino, Smith & William, 2005). Women choose to pursue science and engineering as compared to homemaking careers when they had higher educational aspirations and achievements (Mau and Domnick, 1995). Socially integrative and self-related goals contribute to student competence (Weiner, 2003). Higher GPA was found in students with performance goals (Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, & Elliot, 2002). The purpose of this research was hoped to show how gender, the average level of credits taken each semester, and plans following college was related to GPA and study hours so that we might learn how changes can be made to current higher education in order to increase college academic success for all students. The validity of recent findings on gender differences in college academics were evaluated with the purpose of learning how changes may increase academic performance for both men and women. Indeed, it was found gender differences in plans following college and credits did exist in approaching success in GPA but none were found for study hours. Women overall performed equally in GPA and study hours as compared to men. This finding contradicts the research hypothesis that women performed better than men which was based on recent findings in the Chee, Pino, Smith, and William (2005) study and the Student Monitor national poll (Zelaya, 2005). However, these recent studies could be viewed as more representative of the population based on the fact that they had much larger samples and might suggest a new trend. While in general both men and women reported higher GPA for a high as compared to a low level of credits, women averaging a high level of credits reported higher GPA than their lower credit level counterparts when planning to work or attend a professional school after college. This contradicts the research hypothesis that women would report higher GPA for a low level of average credits, and is inconsistent with the notion in the Chee, Pino, Smith, and William (2005) study that women academically benefit from social capital. The Henke, Lyons, and Krachenberg (1987) study that found no influence of workloads on GPA is supported by the finding in the study that women planning to attend graduate school showed no difference in GPA when taking a low or high level of credits. More needs to be learned about the social differences in women who are planning to attend graduate school as compared to working or attending a professional school before it can be suggested why women planning to attend a graduate school did not benefit from taking a high level of credits. Women displayed no difference in GPA between each type of plan following college. However, when plans following college depend on credits taken each semester, women taking a high level of credits planning to attend a professional school attained a better GPA than those planning to work or attend a graduate school. This finding provides evidence for the research hypothesis that women planning to work may be restricted by traditional pressures, as suggested from the Mau and Domnick (1995) and Chee, Pino, Smith, and William (2005) studies. In addition, it could be suggested that women planning to attend a professional school withhold a goal to demonstrate they are properly qualified, and this goal towards education contributes to women’s GPA similar to how such performance goals achieved better GPA in the Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, and Elliot (2002) study. However, the finding that there was no difference at high or low credit levels in GPA between women planning to work or attend graduate school suggests traditional pressures may not play as important of a role as we expected upon academic performance. These findings contradict the research hypothesis, and it would appear that an influence that has not been addressed in this study could explain for why women planning to work or attend graduate school display a difference from those planning to attend a professional school. A few limitations of the current study present a need for future research. The problem of reverse causality presents the possibility that high academic achievement promotes the higher educational aspirations in the study. The reasoning behind the evidence concluded about women and how their GPA is affected by social capital is based on assuming that social capital decreases as credit level increases; therefore, future research should examine this relationship. The distinction between high and low credit may not be representative which could have caused incorrect results. The degree to which plans following college are desired or decided upon according to social contexts suggests that plans are not exactly the same as personal goals in this study yet the definitions are similar. Lastly, future research needs to address other influences that could relate to why plans following college show differences in GPA. Different types of parents, peers, financial background, housing, and professors certainly are some of the issues that may incline students to choose different goals or plans following college that may change the way a student succeeds in college academic performance. Through this process more can be learned of the different struggles facing students with different career plans. Overall, the results in this study suggest there may be advantages to attaining a better GPA for both men and women who aspire to attending a professional school following college depending on the level of average credits taken. Among the most difficult finding to accept is that both men and women’s GPA may benefit by taking a high level of credits. These implications would not have any affect on study hours. Participants Three hundred ninety one students ranging in age from 17 to 35 with a mean age of 21 (S.D.=2.10). One hundred and sixty eight (43.5%) of the participants were male. Participants were students from a large Midwestern university. Most of the sample (91.6%) was of European ethnicity. Materials Study used archival data collected from a self report survey. Students responded to questions of gender, the average number of credits they have taken each semester, and their plans following college (work, graduate school, or professional school). The average amount of credits taken each semester were divided into a low credit level (lowest thru 15) and a high credit level (16 thru highest). Procedures Students in a research method class completed one survey themselves and asked five other students outside the class to complete questionnaires. Data from the surveys was collated and entered into a database combined with data from other fall research method lab sections where the same data collection procedure was used. A three-way between groups ANOVA was used to examine the main effects and interactions of the level of credit hours, gender, and plans following college as they relate to GPA and the number of hours studied each week. Table 1 shows the statistics for each of the variables used in the study. There was no significant three-way interaction as the variables relate to the number of hours studied each week (F (2,374)= 1.06, MSe = , p =.347, r =.05). Figure 2 and Table 4 show the means for each of the conditions of this design concerning the number of study hours. There was a significant 3-way interaction as the level of credit hours, gender, and plans following college relate to GPA (F (2,372) = 3.146, MSe =.167, p =.044, r =.09). Table 2 summarizes the statistics of each analysis used. Figure 1 and Table 3 show the means for each of the conditions of the design concerning GPA. Examination of the cell means (using LSD =.2) revealed for males with a high level of credit hours taken each semester, equal GPA scores were shown between each type of plan following college. For males with a low level of average credit hours taken each semester, those planning to attend a professional school after college showed greater GPA scores than those planning to work or attend graduate school, and no difference in GPA was shown between those planning to attend graduate school as compared to those planning to work after college. For females with a low level of average credit hours taken each semester, those planning to attend graduate school showed greater GPA scores than those planning to attend a professional school while no difference in GPA was shown between those planning to attend graduate school and those planning to work or those planning to attend a professional school and those planning to work. For females with a high level of average credit hours taken each semester, those planning to attend a professional school showed greater GPA scores than those planning to work or attend graduate school while no difference in GPA was shown between those planning to attend graduate school as compared to those planning to work after college. There was a significant main effect for credit hours (F(1,372)= 9.274, MSe =.167, p =.002, r =.16). The pattern of this effect showed greater GPA scores for those with a high level of credit hours taken each semester. When plans following college and gender were taken into account together, this effect was only descriptive for males planning to attend graduate school and females planning to work or attend a professional school.