Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Honors Thesis (Colby Access Only)

Department

Colby College. Economics Dept.

Advisor(s)

David Findlay

Second Advisor

Dan LaFave

Abstract

There exists a stereotype at many colleges of student-athletes being less academically inclined than non student-athletes. Does being an athlete have a negative effect on collegiate academic performance? This study examines students at Colby College and follows their academic performance through their first year of college. Colby requires either the SAT or ACT to be submitted in the application process and these scores are initially used separately to predict academic success. ACT scores are also converted to SAT scores to allow for all observations to be considered in the same model. Cumulative GPA at the end of a student’s first year is estimated based on standardized test scores, gender, ethnicity, nationality, credits earned, and athletic participation and athletic status. All else equal, being a rated athlete is shown to have a negative effect on grade point average at the end of a student’s first year; however, this does not hold true for those who play a varsity sport but are not rated. The effects of being a rated athlete are the most negative for fall and winter athletes.

Comments

Full-text download restricted to Colby College campus only.

Keywords

Colby College, Athletics, Academics

Multimedia URL

Download

Share

COinS