A R E V I E W O F H O W T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F H O U S T O N

M E N T O R S H I P P R O G R A M I M PA C T S S T U D E N T

P E R S I S T E N C E A N D A C H I E V E M E N T

SUCCESS OF FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCES:

B Y M E G A N P R AT H E R , M A D I S O N R I C H A R D ,

A N D D R . R I TA S I R R I E H

THE HONORS COLLEGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

• University of Houston: ~43,000 students

• Fall 2016 Incoming Class: ~4500 students

• Average SAT of incoming class: 1140

• The Honors

College: ~2500

students

• Fall 2016 Incoming

Class: ~650

students

• Average SAT of

incoming class:

1338

THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

• Rationale: To help incoming first-year students

successfully transition to college

• 20 mentors, each assigned ~35 first-year students

• Hallmark Events

• Honors Retreat

• Honors Organization Fair

• Dinner with the Professors

• Explore Houston

HONORS RETREAT: SOFTBALL GAME

HONORS RETREAT: BURN-ON BRACELETS

TWILIGHT TOURS

ORGANIZATIONS FAIR

DINNER WITH THE PROFESSORS

EXPLORE HOUSTON

STUDYING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

• Methods

• Event Attendance Information

• First Semester GPA

• End of Semester Enrollment at UH

• Analysis

• Two Event Types

• Group

• Individual

• Three Involvement Levels

• Very Involved – Higher than 50% attendance

• Involved – Between 25% and 50% attendance

• Uninvolved – Less than 25% attendance

• Unpaired T-Test

GROUP INVOLVEMENT CORRELATED TO GPA

INDIVIDUAL INVOLVEMENT CORRELATED TO GPA

STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE:USING A T-TEST

STUDENTS WHO UNENROLLED FROM THE UNIVERSITY IN THEIR FIRST SEMESTER: 2012-2015

CONCLUSIONS

• Involvement through the Mentorship Program correlates

to improved first semester GPAs

• Improvement in GPA independent of major

• No significant difference between students involved in

group or individual events

FUTURE RESEARCH GOALS

• Does the involvement in the Mentorship Program result

in improved 4- and 6-year graduation rates?

• Does involvement in the Mentorship Program lead to

greater engagement throughout a student’s

undergraduate career?

• How much programming is too much programming?

FUTURE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM GOALS

• “How to Adult” Workshops

• Connect students to the City of Houston

• Collaborate with Service Learning and similar initiatives

QUESTIONS?