Enhancing the First-Year Experience for Business Students: Student Retention and Academic Success

Abstract

This study examined the academic success and retention of first-year business students enrolled in a course designed to develop skills for academic success, provide a sense of community, ease the transition from high school to college, and provide a realistic preview of business school expectations. The course was designed to create the conditions regarded in the retention literature as critical in promoting academic success and persistence among first year students. Participating students were found to have lower academic disqualification rates, earn higher grade point averages, and continued their enrollment to the fall term of their second year at a higher rate.