Content area
Abstract
Carolina Camp, an optional orientation experience at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, has been offered since 1989. Except for information collected to evaluate program effectiveness by participants, no other outcomes of Camp participation have been assessed.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a difference between participants and non-participants on the variables of grade point average, sophomore return rates, and level of involvement during the freshman year. Additionally, several pre-entry factors were analyzed to determine if there were differences between participants and non-participants prior to Carolina Camp. This was accomplished through an ex post facto study of two different years of student participation, 1992 and 1993. Students participating in Camp were admitted as freshmen for the fall of the year following their summer attendance at Camp. Data were gathered using both computerized student records and a questionnaire.
Study results affirmed the research questions asked in the study. It was found that the combined group of Campers for 1992 and 1993 had higher sophomore return rates than the combined group of non-Campers, Campers tended to achieve actual grade point averages that surpassed their predicted grade point averages after both fall and spring semesters, and Campers exceeded or equaled the involvement of a matched group of non-Campers in eight of eleven types of student organizations. Significant differences were observed on two pre-entry variables: Campers were more likely to be Caucasian and to be non-residents. There were no significant differences between Campers and non-Campers on legacy (whether the student had a parent graduate from the University of South Carolina at Columbia), major (whether the student was admitted as declared, undeclared, or provisionally), or gender. Two variables which had been previously correlated with student persistence at USC were also found to be correlated with participation in Carolina Camp: higher enrollment in University 101, a freshman orientation seminar, and greater likelihood of on-campus residency.