The relation of student engagement and other admission metrics to Master of Accounting student performance

This paper examines whether the use of student engagement (SE) information as part of the admissions process can help us to predict student academic success in Master of Accounting (MAC) programs. The association of SE, undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), and Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) score to academic performance was tested using 890 MAC students enrolled at a large southern US university between 2004 and 2014. We find that SE is a strong predictor of student success in the MAC program, after controlling for GMAT score and UGPA. The results of this study support the use of SE attributes or characteristics by MAC Admission Committees when determining which students to admit into their programs.