How changing admission practices affect sociodemographics, satisfaction, personality, gender, and dropout of students in the professional psychologist study program in Norway

Abstract

How universities admit students to the professional psychologist study program in Norway has been the focus of a longstanding debate. In 2016, the University of Bergen changed its admission practice from being based on grades attained during a one-year university level introductory course in psychology to being based on grades from upper secondary school. Before this change took place, public predictions were made of lowered rates of male students, decreased socioeconomic diversity, personality changes, lowered student satisfaction, and higher dropout rates. In this quantitative study, we investigated these predictions two years after the change was implemented. Specifically, we examined whether students admitted directly from upper secondary school differ from those admitted indirectly via the one-year introductory course on measures of personality, sociodemographic background, and satisfaction with study program and career choice. We also examined possible changes in dropout rates and gender proportions. Overall, the results suggest that the two student groups were quite similar regarding socioeconomic background and personality traits. Some diverging trends, however, were observed. Students admitted from upper secondary school were somewhat more likely to report that their parents had a higher level of education and to perceive their family’s finances as very good. They reported less career choice satisfaction and lower levels of conscientiousness than their university counterparts. The rates of girls and student dropouts were also higher compared to students admitted from an introductory course. We cautiously conclude that there are small but perhaps notable differences between students admitted directly and indirectly and we discuss how these changes may affect the graduating psychologists.