As part of a project to support transfer students from under-represented groups in engineering, we investigated the historical experiences of transfers in the UC Davis College of Engineering using three measures of academic success: the probability of graduating in two years or less, the probability of having a 3.0 or higher GPA with at least 13 units in their fourth quarter, and GPA at graduation. In order to focus on different segments of the path to graduation we used a variety of tools including mixed effects models and descriptive analysis to explore pre-transfer education, random forest models to identify key courses at UC Davis, and multivariate regression to fit those courses into a more general model of academic success. We also examined how experiences of under-represented groups were highlighted and compared to those of the general population. Key results included differences in success by demographic groups and college of origin, an examination of how cross-registration between colleges mediates differences between colleges, and the identification of courses that were strong predictors of student success. Our public report is available online here. We will update and refine this work as the Avenue E project continues over the next several years.

By: Meryl Motika, Xinyi Hou