Traditional measures used to predict success for non-traditional students who are returning to school in the middle of their careers may be inadequate, according to a recent study.

Researchers from the University of Missouri found that traditional measures such as Graduate Records Examinations (GRE) test scores and undergraduate grade point average (GPA) are not adequate for predicting success for non-traditional students who are returning to school after spending several years in the workforce. Many graduate school admissions evaluators are working to develop stronger admissions criteria that assure they are admitting students who will succeed academically.

"In general, it is fairly easy to predict the success of students continuing their education directly from their undergraduate programs; their undergraduate GPAs and GRE scores are pretty accurate in determining if they will succeed in graduate programs," said Charles Menifield, professor in the MU Truman School of Public Affairs. "However, GPA and GRE scores do not predict the success of incoming students who are returning to school after spending time working in their careers as accurately as they do traditional students."

The success of non-traditional students seems to depend much more on the skills they have developed and use every day in their current careers.

"If a graduate program requires a lot of writing, and a potential student hasn't written anything in years in their current job, then they might struggle in school much more than someone who writes on a daily basis," Menifield added. "The same can be said for any particular skill that is required by a graduate program."

For the study, researchers examined admissions data, including undergraduate GPAs, GRE scores and undergraduate degree types, for students entering a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) program at a large southern university. The researchers then compared those numbers to the same students' GPAs in the MPA program. 

Although students entering directly from undergraduate programs with above average undergraduate GPAs and GRE scores succeeded at a high rate, the researchers found a minimal relationship between undergraduate GPA and GRE scores and the success of mid-career, or "non-traditional," students. The researchers also found that the type of undergraduate degrees earned by incoming students, regardless of whether they were traditional or non-traditional, did not make a difference in their level of success in graduate school.

"Whether an incoming student earned a bachelor's degree in English, math or physics had no bearing on whether or not they would succeed in the MPA program," Menifield said. "What makes the difference is the types of skills those students have developed."

The study has been accepted for publication in the Education Policy Analysis Archives.