interest–major fit , academic achievement , academic well-being , study satisfaction , higher education
Abstract:
Prospective students and higher educational institutions often share the matching goal to ensure an optimal fit between the demands of study programs and the student profile. A strong personal fit is meant to facilitate long-term study satisfaction and optimal performance. However, to truly understand the impact of such a fit, we must first reach a consensus on how to measure the construct. At this point, researchers and higher education practitioners are debating different avenues in this regard: In the past, the fit has often been measured by assessing vocational interests tied to potential occupations that are attainable through a study program (Interest–Vocation Fit). Here, we argue that more specific measures tailored to the respective major (Interest–Major Fit) have more predictive power. We compare the two operationalizations of fit as predictors of performance and study satisfaction in a sample of 455 German university students who participated in a longitudinal survey study. We found that the different measures of personal fit were associated with subsequent university GPA and study satisfaction. Moreover, we found that Interest–Major Fit was more closely associated with these outcome measures compared to Interest–Vocation Fit. We also found that only Interest–Major Fit has incremental predictive power for study satisfaction beyond high school GPA. These findings should be helpful to researchers interested in the intricacies of measuring fit and higher education practitioners aiming to develop diagnostic tools alike. Such tools may in turn assist prospective students in finding the major that caters best to their personal needs and interests.
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