No description available.

Counselor cognitive complexity is a counselor’s ability to recognize and organize multiple characteristics that might affect client needs. I examined whether various admissions criteria–Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing scores; previous coursework grade point averages; and faculty co-leaders’ admissions group interview ratings–for 182 applicants to a southwestern U.S. CACREP-accredited master’s counseling program predicted cognitive complexity scores on a modified Counselor Cognitions Questionnaire (CCQ). Participants were predominantly ages 20 to 30 years (91.8%), female (91.8%), and White (81.3%). Multiple regression analyses showed statistical significance with small effect sizes: the admissions criteria together significantly predicted cognitive complexity differentiation (p = .033), accounting for 6.6% of variance, and cognitive complexity integration (p = .003), accounting for 9.8% of variance. The small effect sizes and low variance percentages support the idea that cognitive complexity measured by the modified CCQ is a substantially different phenomenon from commonly-assessed academic aptitude and personality characteristics. If future researchers confirm these findings with additional samples, subsequent researchers could determine whether one or both domains of cognitive complexity, either alone or in combination with one or more of the commonly used admissions criteria, could help counselor educators better predict which applicants will be successful in master’s programs and the counseling field.

The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of factors that contribute to persistence in distance learning, and to provide program administrators with research-based recommendations on ways to improve retention rates and academic performance in an online graduate program for educators in the geosciences. This study used both quantitative and qualitative analysis to answer 5 research questions. The quantitative component of the study assessed whether student characteristics which could be identified and quantified through a premission screening correlated to persistence and academic success in the program. Data were collected through a voluntary survey administered during the program orientation. The qualitative component of the study consisted of interviews which were conducted to gain more concrete insights into the perceptions and practices of 2 student groups. The first group of interviewees was granted provisional admission with an undergraduate GPA under 2.75. Each went on to graduate with a cumulative GPA above 3.40. The students in the second group were put on academic probation for earning a course grade below a C early in the program and then went on to graduate. The results showed that there was not a statistically significant difference in the cumulative undergraduate GPA of those who persisted in the program versus those who withdrew or who were dismissed from the program. However, there was a significant difference in the undergraduate grades earned specifically in science courses. An unanticipated finding was that students who had not met with departmental faculty or program alumni were more than twice as likely to leave the program not in good academic standing. It appears that personal interaction is necessary for students to understand what is necessary be successful in the program. As such, administrators should consider incorporating more pre-program advising. It is evident that even students with a history of undergraduate academic success had misconceptions regarding the time commitment necessary to be academically successful. In addition, being a nontraditional student with a need to balance work, personal obligations, and extenuating circumstances was often a more important factor in performance and persistence than the online format of the program.

To test the hypothesis that the incidence of animal bites increases at the time of a full moon. Design: Retrospective observational analysis. Setting: Accident and emergency department at a general hospital in an English city. Subjects: 1621 consecutive patients, irrespective of age and sex. Main outcome measures: Number of patients who attended an accident and emergency department during 1997 to 1999 after being bitten by an animal. The number of bites in each day was compared with the lunar phase in each month. Results: The incidence of animal bites rose significantly at the time of a full moon. With the period of the full moon as the reference period, the incidence rate ratio of the bites for all other periods of the lunar cycle was significantly lower (P <0.001). Conclusions: The full moon is associated with a significant increase in animal bites to humans.

Yes / People living with dementia (PwD) admitted in emergency to an acute hospital may be at higher risk of inappropriate care and poorer outcomes including longer hospitalisations and higher risk of emergency re-admission or death. Since 2009 numerous national and local initiatives in England have sought to improve hospital care for PwD. We compared outcomes of emergency admissions for cohorts of patients aged 65+ with and without dementia at three points in time. Methods: We analysed emergency admissions (EAs) from the Hospital Episodes Statistics datasets for England 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2016/17. Dementia upon admission was based on a diagnosis in the patient’s hospital records within the last five years. Outcomes were length of hospital stays (LoS), long stays (> = 15 days), emergency re-admissions (ERAs) and death in hospital or within 30 days post-discharge. A wide range of covariates were taken into account, including patient demographics, pre-existing health and reasons for admission. Hierarchical multivariable regression analysis, applied separately for males and females, estimated group differences adjusted for covariates. Results: We included 178 acute hospitals and 5,580,106 EAs, of which 356,992 (13.9%) were male PwD and 561,349 (18.6%) female PwD. Uncontrolled differences in outcomes between the patient groups were substantial but were considerably reduced after control for covariates. Covariate-adjusted differences in LoS were similar at all time-points and in 2016/17 were 17% (95%CI 15%-18%) and 12% (10%-14%) longer for male and female PwD respectively compared to patients without dementia. Adjusted excess risk of an ERA for PwD reduced over time to 17% (15%-18%) for males and 17% (16%-19%) for females, but principally due to increased ERA rates amongst patients without dementia. Adjusted overall mortality was 30% to 40% higher for PwD of both sexes throughout the time-period; however, adjusted in-hospital rates of mortality differed only slightly between the patient groups, whereas PwD had around double the risk of dying within 30 days of being discharged. Conclusion: Over the six-year period, covariate-adjusted hospital LoS, ERA rates and in-hospital mortality rates for PwD were only slightly elevated compared to similar patients without dementia and remaining differences potentially reflect uncontrolled confounding. PwD however, were around twice as likely to die shortly after discharge, the reasons for which require further investigation. Despite being widely used for service evaluation, LoS, ERA and mortality may lack sensitivity to changes in hospital care and support to PwD. / This study was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). ESRC Grant reference: ES/L001772/1.

Honors programs (HP) play an important role in defining the organizational culture of colleges and universities. In the college selected for this study, 30% of its honors students attrite to nonhonors programs, usually due to subpar grade point averages (GPAs). Using Sternberg's augmented theory of successful intelligence, a mixed-methods approach was employed to better understand how selection metrics related to HP student success. The ex post facto design included a 5-year (2009-2014) census sample of 375 HP students. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between college GPA and HP admissions metrics such as standardized test scores and measures of high school quality, schedule strength, rank, and GPA. The quantitative results indicated that only ACT test scores and high school GPA were weakly predictive of college GPA. The qualitative component focused on Sternberg's creative and practical intelligences to guide an exploration of HP admissions criteria with 2 admissions officers and 5 HP faculty members who were chosen for participation because of their direct involvement with selecting and teaching HP students. The qualitative results indicated the participants were interested in adding 3 components to the HP admissions criteria: art and music grades from high school, advanced epistemological thinking, and the ability to connect to faculty and resources. A white paper is included at the end of this study to help guide the process of revisiting admissions criteria to improve HP student completion. Positive social change is achieved, and both students and colleges benefit, when colleges more accurately enroll students into the academic programs they are most likely to complete.

Making decisions about whom to admit to medical school and how to create diversity in the process has come under increased scrutiny. An additional layer of complexity is introduced when committees utilize the AAMC's prescribed holistic review in addition to their institutional diversity policies. This comparative case study explores how two medical schools (one public and one private) are charged with implementing holistic review when challenged by the institutional culture which may resist a holistic approach. Through interviews, meeting observations, and document analysis, the study examines how and when diversity is introduced into the admissions process, and how diversity policies function in the overall medical school environment. Applying a framework of institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), the study found that medical schools are highly concerned about a decrease in MCAT scores and coursework grades, which could negatively impact medical school rankings. It could also contribute to institutional inertia when introducing a new review process, causing resistance by admissions committee members. Additionally, admissions committees and leadership may differ regarding philosophical and historical factors that create bias within the process resulting in isomorphic change. Isomorphic change is a result of the ambiguity and the lack of institutional buy-in on various levels (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). Virtual adoption (Birnbaum, 2000) is a result of an increased focus emulating processes of peer medical schools that misalign the school's priorities, creating confusion about how to address the national shortage of diverse physicians. Future research needs to account for additional influences on admissions decisions, including the impact of the current Fisher v. University of Texas case that may redefine how diversity is measured in medical school admissions.

This study is concerned with the problem of measuring, describing, and analyzing the academic performance and progress toward graduation over a five-year period (1977- 1983) of students who entered a large public university through an admissions review committee process for presumptive-deny students. The purpose of this study is to compare the academic performance of these students (N = 310) with that of randomly selected students who entered through the regular admissions process (N = 350) to determine if the review committee's decisions were as effective in selecting students for admission as were the objective data (college entrance examination scores and rank in high school class) used in the regular admissions process. Neither transfer nor non-United States citizens were included in either group.

The policies that higher education institutions (HEIs) operate when choosing whom to select for admission raise profoundly important issues of social justice. Until recently, HEIs in England have selected applicants for admissions offers primarily on predicted and actual examination achievements. However, newer approaches to selection called ‘contextual admissions’ have emerged in some HEIs that attempt to view the examination achievement of applicants in a wider social context. For example, an increasing number of England’s most selective HEIs are prioritising admissions offers to applicants from less advantaged backgrounds, such as state schools students or those living in areas of low participation in higher education (HE). Despite increasing attention by government and HEIs to enhance ‘fairness’ in admissions through the use of contextual admissions policies, academic studies of this important phenomenon are curious by their absence. Using a policy scholarship approach, this study explores, describes and explains the contextual undergraduate admissions policies of England’s most selective HEIs in relation to the concept of social justice. Documentary content analysis of the policies of 20 English universities in the Russell Group is employed to originate an ideal-type classification system for how selective HEIs are enacting social justice through contextual admissions. Drawing principally on the work of Sharon Gewirtz and Alan Cribb, in-depth interviews with senior policy actors and qualitative documentary analysis are used across three purposively selected sites to suggest social justice can be thought about in three ways. Firstly, it is a multi-dimensional concept (having distributive, cultural and associational forms) where different dimensions can conflict with each other. Secondly it is mediated by structural constraints and other norms, which limit the pursuit of justice. Thirdly, it is context- and level-dependent. This study suggests that no philosophical resolution can be found for what counts as social justice in contextual admissions. Instead, justice in admissions should be understood in its real contexts of enactment and through its propensity to provide empirical outcomes in admissions-offers for less advantaged students that are at least equivalent to their more advantaged counterparts. A number of macro, meso and micro-level factors, that enable or constrain the pursuit of just outcomes for less advantaged learners through contextual admissions, are suggested. These provide the basis for a fruitful range of new potential quantitative and qualitative studies by scholars of social justice, stratification and mobility to an important but under-researched area of education policy.

This study analyzed trends in access and success of students admitted through the Top 10% admissions policy. The study employs a comparative analysis between public universities from the Borderland region and the two top-tier public universities in Texas. This Texas admissions policy provides students in the top 10% of their graduating high school class admission to any state 4-year public university. Therefore, this policy implies that being a top 10% student equates to being college ready for any public university in Texas, regardless of selectivity or top tier status. Research on the Texas Top 10% policy has focused on its success in improving diversity and student performance at the two top-tier public universities in Texas, The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University. However, enrollment disparity continues at these elite institutions between Whites, Latina/os and Blacks. Additionally, the Texas Borderland region is an intersection of large Latina/o demographics; distance from top-tier institutions; and great disparities in economic development, health, and education. Combining the aforementioned conditions, we know little about the access and success of Borderland top 10% students, particularly in comparing the two public top tier universities in Texas to the alternative choice of their local Borderland university. This study used mixed methods to compare the trends in access and success of Borderland students admitted under the Top 10% admissions policy at Borderland universities and at top-tier public universities, and additionally controlled for student characteristics in explaining student persistence and graduation. The quantitative analysis used student-level descriptive and inferential statistics with data facilitated by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The qualitative section of this dissertation used focus-group interviews with 36 students at 5 Borderland universities and 1 top-tier university to explain their success. This study applies Bourdieu's theoretical framework of social and cultural capitals and habitus to interpret the findings. Results indicated student differentiation between institutions in access, success, and explanations. Ethnicity, gender, family income, and college generation status influence differences in enrollment between institutions, in which all together influenced differences in graduation and persistence. On the other hand, the interviews revealed that personal effort and institutional resources also explained differences in student success. This study provides implications for further research and policy considerations. / text