[en] The dropout of university studies is a current problem in all national and international places of higher education. Although many of its causes are known, it affects more and more young people who decide to start a university career and who, due to various factors, leave it before finishing it. This research work has as its main objective to know why some students decide to leave the career and others, with similar social and learning contexts, instead, they are resilient, they strive to finish their degree in spite of the adversities and they finish. In order to understand how these processes are produced and to determine the differences, we decided to use a qualitative methodology, using the life history technique of the research participants, which describes the family, personal, economic and university situations for which they have passed these students during their university stage. Ten students were intentionally selected as participants, based on the personal, family, economic and university characteristics, since what really interested us was knowing their passage through the educational system before, during and after the university stage. The analysis and results showed that students who had left the university had economic, family or decision problems, as well as resilient students. The difference between both group is that the students who left the university have different psychological characteristics to resilient students. Those who left are people without clear goals or doubts about their future and have also made bad decisions when choosing the career. While resilient students have always known what they really wanted for their future, they are persevering, persistent and despite having encountered difficulties of different kinds during their university stage, they have managed to overcome these adversities and continue their studies with very clear goals from the beginning

[es] El abandono de estudios universitario es un fenómeno actual y generalizable a toda la educación superior nacional e internacional. A pesar de que se conocen muchas de sus causas, cada vez afecta a más jóvenes que deciden comenzar una carrera universitaria y que por diversos factores abandonan antes de terminarla. Este trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo principal el conocer por qué unos estudiantes deciden abandonar la carrera y otros, con contextos sociales y de aprendizaje similares, en cambio, son resilientes, se esfuerza por acabar su grado a pesar de las adversidades y terminan. Para entender cómo se producen estos procesos y determinar las diferencias, decidimos utilizar una metodología cualitativa, utilizando la técnica de historias de vida de los participantes de la investigación, en las que se describen las situaciones familiares, personales, económicas y universitarias por las cuales han pasado estos alumnos y alumnas durante su etapa universitaria. Fueron seleccionados diez casos intencionadamente, basándonos en las características personales, familiares, económicas y universitarias de los participantes, ya que lo que realmente nos interesaba era conocer su paso por el sistema educativo antes, durante y después de la etapa universitaria. El análisis y los resultados mostraron que el alumnado que ha abandonado la universidad tuvo dificultades económicas, familiares o problemas con la toma de decisiones, al igual que, los alumnos resilientes. La diferencia entre ambos es que, el alumnado que abandonó la universidad tiene características psicológicas distintas al alumnado resiliente. Los que abandonaron son personas sin las metas claras o con dudas acerca de su futuro y también han tomado malas decisiones a la hora de elegir la carrera. Mientras que el alumnado resiliente, siempre ha sabido lo que realmente quería para su futuro, son perseverantes, persistentes y a pesar de haberse encontrado dificultades de diferente índole durante su etapa universitaria ha sabido superar esas adversidades y continuar sus estudios con las metas muy claras desde el principio.