The Vocational Interests and Personality Types of College Engineering Students in Relation to Their Academic Achievement

• In Event: Tests as Predictive Tools in Career/College Success

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to utilize two validated and rigorously tested measures of personality and vocational interests (i.e., The NEO Personality Inventory-3 and The Self-Directed Search- Revised) to gain a better understanding of the psychological makeup of freshman engineering students in order to address the previously discussed STEM crisis (high attrition rates). The vast majority of participants had either Realistic or Investigative as their first two personality codes, a characteristic of engineering and mechanical minded individuals (Toomey, Levison, & Palmer, 2009). Surprisingly, Social had the highest occurrence amongst the third personality code. The results are promising in that personality types (both vocational and general) were found to increase the explained variance in GPA than just SAT scores alone.

Authors

• Naser Hourieh, Fordham University

• Qian Wang, Manhattan College

• Eric C. Chen, Fordham University

• John Craven, Fordham University

• Yi Ding, Fordham University