Profile of
B.C. College Transfer Students
Admitted to Simon Fraser University
1990/91 to 1994/95
Prepared by
Liny Chan, Analyst
Office of Analytical Studies
September, 1995
I. Introduction
Each year, approximately a third of Simon Fraser University's new students come from B.C. College programs. The purpose of this document is to summarize the data available with respect to this group of students. Inter-college comparisons will be emphasized and, where appropriate, comparisons will be made with students who were admitted to SFU directly from B.C. Grade 12 graduation.
This report is divided into three sections. The first section is a general profile and provides information on source of transfer students, number of transfer credits students are admitted with, number of credits students enroll in during their first semester at SFU, Faculty of intended major, degree goal, program of study, and age and gender distributions. The second section looks at the quality and academic performance of transfer students by examining grade point averages, grades in selected courses, and credential completion rates. The third section of this report focuses on B.C. College transfer students who have graduated from SFU and looks at grade point average, credential awarded, and average time to complete credential.
This report is based on B.C. College transfer students admitted to Simon Fraser University from 1990/91 to 1994/95 who did not withdraw during their first semester at SFU.
For this analysis, the college a student attended is defined as the college where the student received his/her maximum transfer credits. B.C. Direct Entry Grade 12s are those high school students who were admitted to SFU within one year of high school graduation.
One subfile named "bccol.dat" and another named "debc12.dat" were created by extracting college transfers and direct entry BC grade 12s from the Student Information System. Tables in this report were then produced by running SPSSx programs against these subfiles. A list of the data elements collected for each subfile together with an explanation of the variables are provided in the Appendix.
B.C. College transfer students constitute one of the largest admission categories entering SFU each year. From 1990/91 to 1994/95, 8,895 students (approximately 37% of new students) were admitted under this category. Table 1 shows that 84% of these students were from lower mainland colleges, 7% from the Interior/Kootenays, 5% from Vancouver Island, and 4% from Northern B.C.
Figure 1 shows that most of SFU's transfer students come from four colleges: Douglas (22%), Langara (19%), Kwantlen (17%) and Capilano (16%). Together, these colleges constitute 75% of all transfer students (see Figure 3). The largest source of college transfer students from outside the lower mainland is Okanagan University College, whose students make up 3.5% of the transfer student total.
Figure 2 shows the number of college transfers admitted by year and region. The 1991/92 and 1992/93 decrease shown in this graph results from a drop in the intake of new students over these two years. The reduction was planned and part of an ongoing enrollment management process to bring student numbers more in line with funded enrollments.
Table 2 shows the number of transfer credits with which college transfers are admitted to SFU. Transfer students are allowed a maximum of 60 hours of transfer credit. The largest proportion, 31% entered with 55 to 60 hours of credit . Another 18% entered with 30 to 34 hours. Generally, students from outside the lower mainland enter SFU with more transfer credits than students from local colleges. This table also shows that an extremely high proportion of transfer students from private colleges (71%) enter SFU with less than 40 hours of transfer credit. A large proportion of Langara college students (46%) and Capilano college students (45%) also enter SFU with fewer than 40 transfer credits.
Table 3 shows that 67% of transfer students are registered as part-time students and 33% as full-time students for their first semester at SFU. This is in marked contrast with the direct entry B.C. grade 12s admitted over this same time period, where 73% are enrolled as full-time students. In general, students from colleges outside the lower mainland are much more likely to enroll full-time than students from local colleges. In a 1990 college profile, 54% of transfer students were enrolled as part-time students in their first semester at SFU.
Table 4 shows that over half of all B.C. College transfer students entered the Faculty of Arts (58%). For comparison, 40% of direct entry B.C. grade 12s enter the Faculty of Arts. A higher proportion of B.C. grade 12s enter the Faculty of Applied Science (16%) and Science (24%) than college transfers (10% and 6%, respectively).
Table 5 looks at the degree goals of college transfer students. Since over half of the students enter the Faculty of Arts, it is no surprise that 49% intend to pursue a Bachelor of Arts. While the average admission GPA (based on college work) is 2.94, students with a Bachelor of Applied Science or a Professional Development Program as a goal enter with much higher GPAs, 3.65 and 3.10, respectively. No doubt this is a result of the screening process required for entry into these two programs.
Table 6 provides information on programs college transfers enter at SFU. The four programs attracting the most students include: Business Administration (13%), Education (12%), General Studies (11%) and Psychology (10%). For comparison, the three most popular programs for B.C. Grade 12's are Business Administration (14%), Education (10%) and Biological Sciences (9%). Table 6 shows a high proportion of students from private colleges (44%) selecting either Business Administration or Economics as a major. 35% of students from Northern B.C. enter the Education program. In particular, 50% of all Northern Lights students enter an Education program. A large proportion of Camosun students (34%) enter Criminology.
Table 7 shows that the average age of B.C. college transfers is 22.7. This compares to 18.0 for Direct entry B.C. Grade 12s. Approximately 19% of students coming from Northern B.C. are aged 30 and over. The oldest students (average age 25.9) come from Northern Lights.
Table 8 shows that 43% of college transfers are male and 57% are female. Transfers from Northern B.C. show an unusually high proportion of females (72%).
Tables 9 through 13 examine the quality and academic performance of B.C. College transfer students.
Table 9 summarizes the admission grade point average with which transfer students are admitted to SFU. The admission GPA at the 50th percentile is 2.88, the average is 2.94.
Table 10 shows mean entry GPA by college and the CGPA of students as they progress through SFU (after the first semester, after 30 credit hours, and at graduation). Students from outside the lower mainland come to SFU with higher admission GPAs. These students also perform better during their first semester at SFU, after 30 credit hours at SFU, and at graduation.
Table 11 provides information on performance in individual courses. Inter-college comparisons are shown as are comparisons between college transfers and direct entry B.C. grade 12s. In general, students admitted directly from high schools receive higher grades. For readers of this table, please note that in many cases, the number of students from a particular institution who have received a grade in a particular SFU course is small and the corresponding course grade averages, although accurate, are not statistically reliable as an indicator for the college.
Table 12 examines the graduation rates for students who were admitted from 1990/91 to 1991/92. From the 3,290 students in this cohort, 55% graduated with at least one credential from SFU. (It should be noted that degree completion rates are difficult to interpret, as students may transfer to professional schools outside SFU). 65% of students admitted to SFU with 55-60 transfer credits in the cohort have graduated. Students from public colleges within the lower mainland have the lowest completion rate (52%). Looking at the five public lower mainland colleges, students from Fraser Valley show the highest completion rate (65%) and Capilano the lowest (48%). Students from private lower mainland colleges have the highest graduation rate (68%) of all transfer students.
Table 13 compares the graduation CGPA of B.C. College transfer students with direct entry B.C. Grade 12s. The average graduation CGPA is 2.92 for B.C. College transfer students and 3.05 for B.C. Grade 12s. However, note that the cumulative GPA at graduation for college transfer students is calculated over a shorter time period (approximately 2 years) while the CGPA for B.C. Grade 12s is calculated over a longer time period (approximately 4 years) (see Figure 4).
Tables 14 through 17 provide a profile of those students who have graduated with a credential from SFU.
Table 14 shows the admission GPA of graduates and their performance as they progressed towards graduation. In comparing this Table to the one that was produced for all students (Table 10), one can see that those who graduated performed at a level which was consistently higher, both at time of admission and as they progressed through the system.
Table 15 provides information on the programs from which students have graduated. The top four programs are Business Administration (18%), Psychology (12%), Education (9%), and Economics (8%).
Table 16 looks at the credentials which were awarded to these students. 50% of the credentials awarded were BAs, 16% were BBAs, 5% were BGSs, 5% were BSCs, 9% were PDPs and 9% were Certificate in Liberal Arts.
Finally, Table 17 looks at the amount of time taken by these graduates to complete their credential. On average, students require 8.6 semesters. A BASC takes the longest (13 semesters) and a PDP the shortest (7.7 semesters). Time is calculated from the time a student is admitted to SFU to when a student graduates.
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