Quantitative Investigation of Preparatory Math Coursework as a Barrier for Degree Attainment in Engineering

Preparatory, or "remedial"math and writing courses have long been studied as barriers to success in postsecondary education, particularly for disadvantaged students. The negative effects seem to be particularly pronounced at four-year institutions, like the one studied here. Prior work in this area has not had the granularity to determine at what point students who are not math ready leave engineering pathways. We set out to determine how performance in trigonometry courses affects further math and science course enrollment, as well as college graduation rates. We used logistic and linear regression to investigate outcomes for 3,615 engineering students at a public research university. We find that the probability of graduating with an engineering degree within 6 years or leaving the university with no degree depends on the grade received in trigonometry. We find that students who get an A in trigonometry are no more likely than calculus-ready students to leave the university but are still less likely to stay in engineering. We find that math-ready students are more likely to enroll in physics and calculus 2 than trigonometry students who get As. This work shows that preparatory math courses may serve as a barrier to persistence in engineering, even if students are successful in the courses, and that the primary point of attrition for these students appears to be after calculus 1.