A multivariate approach to investigate the factors contributing to minority students applying for graduate school

The goal of this research is to study what, if any, factors that may help minority students make his or her decision to apply to graduate school in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics areas. In the past four years, a longitudinal study has been conducted at North Carolina A & T State University to assess the effectiveness of the North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation project. Key information such as demographic information (e.g., gender, ethnicity), and academic information (e.g., high school GPA, SAT score) about the participants in the project was recorded. Over the years, student performance was tracked during their stay at the university and information about whether those participants went to graduate school was recorded. Given the complex nature of the problem, a multivariate statistical approach - multiway frequency analysis was used to investigate the association among the variables. Results indicated that there is a statistical significant relationship between the student's intent to apply to graduate school and his/her research experience as well as his/her high school GPA. Findings from this research will provide lights on minority students' decision to pursue advanced degrees and may help recruit minority students to apply to graduate school. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2009.