Targeting Persistence: Student Profiles Reveal Strengths and Challenges in Chemistry and Biochemistry Undergraduate Student Development

Student mindset and identity play a role in STEM persistence. On average, half of STEM majors leave their program without earning a degree, many within the first two years of study. Qualitative analysis of surveys and self-reflection writings of under- and upperclassmen in the chemistry department at a midsized university in the midwestern U.S. revealed that upperclassmen had shifts toward growth mindsets, more developed STEM identities, embraced challenge, and recognizing value in learning from failure. Underclassmen tended toward fixed mindsets, had limited sense of STEM identity, held contradicting beliefs about challenge, and feared failure. This highlights existing strengths within the department, such as undergraduate research experiences, as well as targets for future interventions to improve these traits earlier in the students’ university careers with the hope of increasing persistence.