ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the relationship between past performance and study success for all non-restricted B.Sc. programmes, in case they may consider selecting students in the near future. Transition of students from secondary education to higher education requires a complicated adaptation process. Study success in year 1 can be influenced by a large array of cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics of students, including personality characteristics, motivational factors, learning strategies and psychosocial factors In Psychology and Liberal Arts and Sciences programmes, 20 to 50 per cent of the variance in first-year grade point average (GPA) can be explained by past performance in secondary school. The Dutch secondary education system is essentially a tracked system, where initial choices are already made at the entry level by choosing one of the different tracks. The chapter discusses a study which is concerned with ten different B.Sc. programmes, offered by the Science Faculty of Utrecht University.
