Profiles of Successful and Unsuccessful Graduate Engineering Management Students.

摘要

The Air Force makes a large investment when it sends a person to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) School of Systems and Logistics Graduate Engineering Management (GEM) program; therefore, it is important to minimize the number of unsuccessful students. This research project determined both the characteristics present in successful GEM students (students who completed the program on schedule) and those characteristics which could be used in predicting academic success. A variety of personal, military, attitudinal, and educational characteristics was used to develop profiles of successful and unsuccessful students. Several statistical analysis techniques were used to test for differences among these profiles. Seven student characteristics (years in the military, AFIT engineering GPA, AFIT socio-humanistic GPA, AFIT analytical GPA, cumulative AFIT GPA, advisor advised in past three years, and where an advisor works) were found statistically different between the successful and unsuccessful students. Factor and discriminant analyses were used to determine the best predictors of success. Nine students characteristics (age, years in the military, months since undergraduate math, aviation cadet, 'other' engineering degree, and undergraduate GPA) were good predictors of performance in the GEM program. (Author)