Unlike instruments developed for admissions personnel or academic placement, the CSFI is designed to be a useful tool for counselors, advisors, and first-year seminar instructors.
Many factors make for academic success in universities and colleges throughout the country.
Most notably, grade point average in high school and aptitude scores, such as SAT or ACT scores, seem to be the best predictors of success in colleges and universities. However, additional factors which are often unmeasured, have a very important place in the retention of students and their continuing success in higher education. It is expected that previous high school GPA in mathematics and English, along with verbal and quantitative test scores, would adequately predict success. But typically, affective factors are operating. Mathematics assignments are usually turned in every week or every other day, which demand a precise organization of time and task.