1. Developing Honors College Admissions Rubric to Ensure Student Success
Lizmarie Maldonado, MSPH, Senior Statistician College of Charleston
#RIConf2019

2. Quick Facts: College of Charleston
Location: Charleston, SC
Public Liberal Arts and Sciences university
61 majors and 78 minors; 24 master’s degree programs
Fall 2018 Enrollments: 9,880 Undergraduate; 903 Graduate
Founded in 1770 (oldest educational institution south of Virginia and 13th oldest in the US)
Honors College established 1967 with close to 700 students today

3. Background
Objective: Determine factors most likely to predict success in the Honors College at the application stage
Measures of success:
One-year College of Charleston retention
One-year Honors College retention
One-year cumulative College of Charleston GPA
One-year cumulative Honors College GPA

4. Honors College Admissions
Standardized test scores (SAT/ACT)*: 10-point scale based on highest test score (ACT scores converted to SAT equivalent)
Essay: 12-point scale following rubric
Transcript*: 10-point scale
Resume*: 12-point scale
Total Possible Score: 44
*New rubrics developed for point-assignment; resumes scored separately on style and content

5. Study Timeline
Fall 2017: Developed New Admissions Rubric + Tested on Fall 2016 Cohort
Fall 2018: New Rubric Implemented for Entering Freshmen
Fall 2019: Assessment of Full Freshman Cohort

6. Honors College Academic Profile
Fall 2016 Entering Freshmen Class: 194
95 Residents
99 Non-residents
Average SAT score: 1287
Average High School GPA: 4.46
One-year retention: 89.2%
One-year Honors College retention: 77.8%
Average cumulative CofC GPA: 3.56
Average cumulative Honors College GPA: 3.59

7. Sample of Fall 2016 Cohort
Fall 2016 Honors College entering freshmen cohort
A simple random sample of 100 students selected (50 residents/50 nonresidents)
Student applications rescored based on new rubric
Average total application score: 31
Outcomes
One-year CofC & Honors College retention (retained in Fall 2017)
One-year cumulative CofC & Honors College GPA ( Academic Year)

8. Analyses in Veera Predict
One-year CofC & Honors College retention:
Logistic regression
Models:
Total Application Score
Test Score + Resume + Transcript + Essay
One-year cumulative CofC GPA & Honors College GPA:
Linear regression

9. Results One-year CofC & Honors College retention:
No correlation found
One-year cumulative CofC GPA & Honors College GPA:
Correlation to Total Application Score
Correlation to Test Score, Transcript, and Resume Scores
Fall 2016 Honors College Cohort Cumulative CofC GPA by Application Score

10. Summary
Provided assurance that historical admissions process achieved the goal of selecting successful students
Provided baseline for how new admissions process might perform
Provided insight into which Honors College application components were most predictive of success

11. Decision Tree Analyses in Veera Predict

12. Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) Analysis
Tree classification method
Continuous predictors are split into categories with approximately equal number of observations
Examines all possible cross tabulations between each categorical predictor and the outcome
Identifies optimal splits

13. Building a Decision Tree Model in Veera Predict

14. Decision Tree Models Different iterations: Residency Gender
Total score/individual app components

15. Initial Results Sample Total App Score < 24
Sample of Fall 2016 cohort
One-year CofC cumulative GPA and total application score
Sample
Avg. GPA = 3.61
Total App
Score < 24
Avg. GPA = 2.97
24 ≤ Total App Score < 32
Avg. GPA = 3.50
Score ≥ 32
Avg. GPA = 3.81

16. Additional Models Random sample of 60 students from Fall 2017 cohort
30 resident
30 nonresident
Combined Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 = 160 students

17. Model Results Sample Total App Score < 28
Combined sample of Fall and Fall 2017 cohorts
One-year CofC cumulative GPA and total application score
Sample
Avg. GPA = 3.60
Total App
Score < 28
Avg. GPA = 3.32
28 ≤ Total App Score < 32
Score ≥ 32
Avg. GPA = 3.77

18. Other Findings One-year CofC cumulative GPA:
Test score most significant split node for Fall 2016 (suggestive of a minimum 1300 SAT)
Honors essay most significant split node for in combined cohorts
An examination of two-year CofC cumulative GPA produced similar results
One-Year Honors cumulative GPA:
Honors essay most significant split node followed by test score for Fall 2016

19. Implementation First admissions cycle: Fall 2018
Applicants with a total score of at least 28 were admitted
Resulted in an Honors College entering freshmen class of 264
Second admissions cycle: Fall 2019
Projected enrollment: 277

20. Next Steps Assessment of full Fall 2018 cohort
Impact on retention and cumulative GPA

21. Thank you! Questions/Comments?
Lizmarie Maldonado, MSPH, Senior Statistician College of Charleston
#RIConf2019