Do Nondomestic Undergraduates Choose a Major Field in Order to Maximize Grade Point Averages

Undergraduates' choice of major is affected by a diversity of variables which have been organized into four categories: sources of information and influence, job characteristics, fit and interest in subject, and characteristics of the major/degree (Beggs, Bantham, & Taylor, 2008). These variables' role in nondomestic (i.e., internationals, permanent residents, and/or undocumented students whose native language is not English) undergraduates' (NDU) choice of major at American higher education institutions has not been reported, to our knowledge. Data on international undergraduates' choice of fields of study appear in the Institute of International Education's (IIE) annual Open Doors report. In academic years (AY) 2012-13 and 2013-14 (the most recent ones available at the time of this writing), international undergraduates' top five fields of study are business and management, engineering, social sciences, mathematics and computer science, and fine and applied arts (IIE, 2013, 2014). These fields account for over 65% of the international undergraduates attending American higher education institutions.A more recent publication on NDU choice of major field (Vaughn, Bergman, & Fass-Holmes, 2015) reported that, at an American West Coast public university (hereafter referred to as "the University"), engineering (ENG) and science (SCI) majors comprised approximately half of the NDU enrolled in English intensive-writing classes in the fall term of AY 2009-10 through 2013-14, inclusive. NDU whose major field was economics (ECON) comprised an additional 17-21%. These students enrolled in the English writing classes to fulfill the University's graduation requirements (Vaughn et al., 2015).Why have ENG and SCI been popular among the University's NDU? One hypothesis is that the above variables which affect domestic undergraduates also affect NDU (Beggs et al., 2008). However, an interesting alternative is that NDU, in order to maximize their GPAs, choose a major based (at least in part) upon its English writing proficiency dependence. This alternative would predict that NDU with English writing weaknesses (as evidenced by low academic marks in English writing classes) choose major fields (such as ENG and SCI) that ostensibly depend more upon mathematics than English writing proficiency. The present study tested this hypothesis.The following two questions were addressed by analyzing data detailed in Vaughn et al. (2015). Does major field predict NDU academic marks in English writing classes? Does major field predict NDU term GPA?RESEARCH METHODNDU demographic and academic achievement data for AY2009-10 through 2013-14 inclusive were extracted from the University's student information system using IRB-approved procedures (Vaughn et al., 2015). Demographic variables included department, major, and residency status (Table 1 in Vaughn et al., 2015). Outcome variables were academic marks in English writing classes (details in Vaughn et al., 2015) and term GPAs.Multiple regression hierarchical linear modeling (MRHLM) was employed (using STATA 13 software; StataCorp, 2013) to determine whether major fields predict academic marks in the English writing classes and/or term GPAs (outcome variables). MRHLM analyses were performed (rather than standard HLM that regressed one variable on another) because they would 1) provide a more complete picture of variables' contributions to regression equations (Nathans, Oswald, & Nimon, 2012), and 2) isolate major field's effect by controlling for variables (e.g., academic standing, class, home country, etc.) which previous research has shown could otherwise confound the present study's analyses (details in Vaughn et al., 2015).To address the above two questions, all models in the present study were performed on the entire set of NDU in the sample (Table 1). The outcome variables were nested within student (a student could have up to 6 writing class marks and 3 term GPAs per AY). …