Relating admissions criteria to dental hygiene student retention.

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to identify preadmission variables that relate to dental hygiene student retention. METHODS. An online survey was sent by email to 309 dental hygiene chairs /program directors. The survey comprised 18 questions to collect program demographic information, program admissions requirements, and program student retention rates. RESULTS. There were 139 respondents who participated in the survey for a 45% return rate. The mean for program retention of participating accredited dental hygiene programs was 91%. Stepwise regression analysis discovered three independent variables (aE =0.15) that relate to dental hygiene program retention rates. These independent variables include interviews (p=0.054), overall college GPA (p=0.029), and overall high school GPA (p=0.141). CONCLUSION. Preadmission requirements that include overall high school GPA, overall college GPA, and interviews can be used by admissions committees to predict dental hygiene student retention. J Allied Health 2014; 43(4):235-240.STUDENT RETENTION is of great consequence in dental hygiene education. Dental hygiene programs use a significant amount of resources to recruit potential candidates. The American Dental Association (ADA) reported 32,697 applicants in 2012-13 for entry into dental hygiene programs, and only 10,185 of these applicants were accepted.1 As only one third of total applicants will be admitted, dental hygiene programs with competitive admissions processes must identify the candidates most likely to succeed.1Dental hygiene programs need not only preadmission criteria to help select candidates for admittance but also criteria that can ensure student retention. Students, faculty, dental hygiene programs, and the institutions can all be affected by the negative consequences of student attrition. Institutions recognize the importance of program retention, as this is one of the measures used to assess program effectiveness for accreditation.2Many studies available have explored the reasons why students withdraw from allied health programs after they have been admitted.3-5 Ideally it would benefit all parties if students most likely to withdraw were identified before program enrollment. Selection methods for admissions may influence retention rates, and therefore consideration should be given to the effect the variables have on student retention. Much of the allied health literature available related to student retention is more than 10 years old, and few dental hygiene admissions studies are available that validate admissions practices, let alone associate these variables to retention rates. The purpose of this study is to identify preadmission variables that relate to dental hygiene student retention.When evaluating program retention rates, preadmission factors must be examined for their contribution. A variety of admissions variables are used by accredited dental hygiene programs for admissions, with grade point average (GPA) reported as the most often used criteria. Overall college GPA is used by 70% of accredited dental hygiene programs, and overall high school GPA is used by 23% of programs.1 A dental hygiene study by Ward et al.7 showed that incoming GPA is useful in predicting success in dental hygiene education. Bauchmoyer et al.8 corroborated the use of incoming GPA as a predictor for completion of the dental hygiene program at The Ohio State University. Research from the dental hygiene program at Georgia Regents University found the use of incoming GPA to be predictive of students' dental hygiene GPA.9 An allied health study of radiography programs by Kudlas5 showed that selective GPA as opposed to open enrollment is predictive of retention rates. Conversely, a nursing study demonstrated improved retention rates after a nursing program intentionally admitted disadvantaged, ethnically diverse students with lower GPAs. Although the study focused on minority recruitment and retention, this study shows that the use of preadmission GPA may not be an absolute factor in preadmission selection. …