ABSTRACT
Academic institutions have long claimed in their mission statements that students benefit from a college education along multiple dimensions. Certainly knowledge within one’s disciplinary focus and knowledge about future employability are important, but most advocates of the college experience also cite important development in areas such as leadership, citizenship, community involvement, personal values, and character (Taber & Hackman, 1976; Willingham, 1985). Despite the explicit statements of these multiple objectives, today’s institutions continue to evaluate or account for the outcomes of the college experience on relatively narrow criteria such as GPA and graduation. In addition, efforts to validate college admissions procedures often rely solely on GPA and, very often, only freshman GPA.
